Chapter Thirteen.
"This is ridiculous," Lucius snorted as everyone looked at him expectantly. "Draco, you can't believe this. You said to look you in the eye and tell you the truth and you'll believe us, well I'm telling you the truth. I was not involved."
Draco looked at his father for a long time, before dropping his hand and placing the veritiserum back on the table. "I believe you."
"In that case I think it's time for you to leave now," Lucius snarled, turning to Harry and Ron. "Now you've finished throwing your wild accusations around you can leave and find out who truly did this."
"We already know," Harry insisted. "Deny it all you want, but we saw the look Pansy gave you. You're involved, we know it."
"Well my son doesn't believe you," Lucius retorted with a smug smirk.
"But your wife just might," Narcissa whispered.
Lucius whirled round to face Narcissa, clearly shocked by her declaration. "Cissa? How can you believe them?"
"I didn't until you refused to take the veritiserum," Narcissa replied. "If you had nothing to hide you would have just taken it and cleared your name." Picking up the glass from the table, Narcissa held it out for her husband. "Go on Lucius, prove me wrong. Take the serum."
When Lucius failed to take the glass from his wife, Narcissa let out an anguished cry before throwing the contents in her husband's face. While Lucius was wiping the liquid from his eyes, Narcissa launched herself at the man she loved. Her sharp nails clawed at his face, leaving deep blood seeping ridges in his cheeks, before she began to pound her fists against his chest.
"Why?" She cried. "Why would you do this? He's our only son."
"That's why I did it," Lucius snapped as he battered to get his wife off him. "I did this to protect him."
Draco let out a low moan at his father's confession, and as he stumbled backwards it was only the fact Hermione was at his side that stopped him falling to the floor. Grabbing onto him, Hermione helped Draco back into his seat and she wrapped her arm around him as he dropped his face into his hands.
"Bastard," Narcissa screamed, finally stopping her attack on Lucius. However, she didn't back off, she just pulled out her wand and pointed it at her husband. "What made you think this was the right thing for Draco? Did you think it was clever to tear his heart to pieces when he was paralysed? You couldn't have been any crueller if you'd tried."
"It wasn't meant to be cruel," Lucius muttered, eyeing up his wife's wand warily. He knew Narcissa was a formidable witch, and he didn't fancy being on the receiving end of one of her hexes.
"How could it be anything but?" Narcissa demanded. Even though tears were falling down her face she was remaining strong and everyone in the room knew she would take Lucius down in an instant if he didn't cooperate. "Our son was lying in a hospital bed after been told he might never walk again, and you got Pansy to pose as Hermione and break his heart. I know you have your faults Lucius, but I never thought you could be that evil to your own son."
"I didn't know Draco was going to be paralysed," Lucius shot back in a pathetic attempt to defend his actions. "I'd already set the plan in motion, and I couldn't go back and change things. Draco wasn't supposed to wake up without feeling in his legs."
"But you still knew he was going to wake up after a horrific ordeal and get his heart broken," Narcissa responded. "What sort of a father does that?"
"The sort that wants to protect my family's name," Lucius replied in a whisper.
"Reputation?" Draco spat, finally looking up. "You did this for your pathetic reputation?"
"We'd already lost so much, we couldn't lose our pureblood status as well," Lucius said weakly. "I couldn't let you marry a muggleborn, and I knew that was where you were heading."
"You're a monster," Draco muttered. Giving his father one final disdainful glare, he dropped his head back into his hands.
"Draco, let me explain," Lucius pleaded, taking a step towards his son.
"Stay away from my son," Narcissa snarled, pressing her wand against Lucius's throat and halting his movement.
"Cissa."
"Don't you Cissa me," She snapped. Taking Lucius by surprise, she quickly transferred her wand to her left hand and slapped her right palm against the side of her husband's already scratched face. "I hate you Lucius Malfoy. What you have done is unforgivable. And there is no reason on earth for you to have put Draco through the pain you have, not to mention the pain you put Hermione through."
"I doubt she went through much pain," Lucius sneered, clenching his jaw as he fought the urge to rub his cheek where Narcissa had slapped him. "She is engaged to another man after all."
"You have no idea what I went through," Hermione snapped at Lucius. She was half tempted to go and give him a slap just like Narcissa, but she wasn't going to leave Draco's side. "What I was still going through until a few weeks ago when I found out Draco was alive. I haven't been alright for seven years. Every day I lived with the pain of losing the man I loved."
"But yet you still moved on and got engaged to someone else," Lucius retorted, unable to stand not having the final say.
"Because I thought Draco was dead," Hermione shouted. "That's the only reason I moved on." Glaring at Lucius one final time, she turned to Ron with a sheepish look, knowing what she'd just said would be hurtful for him to hear. "I'm sorry Ron. You know I love you, but you also know the reason we were together."
"I know, and I understand," Ron said, giving Hermione a small smile. It still hurt to hear Hermione reiterate why she was with him, but it wasn't as if she'd ever pretended otherwise. He'd always known her true love was Draco, and he was just second choice.
"Isn't that nice," Lucius sneered. "Weasley is quite content to be second best. Let's guess, you'll now stand back and watch as the witch you love runs off to be with my son."
"So what if I do?" Ron challenged. "Loving someone means wanting them to be happy. If your son makes Hermione happy, then I'll willingly let her go. But I don't suppose you understand what it is to love someone."
"You have no idea what I understand," Lucius spat. "Everything I have ever done has been for my family. I love my wife and son, and I will not lose them."
"It's too late for that," Draco said with a bitter laugh. "You've already lost me. From this moment on, I have no father."
"You've lost me too, Lucius," Narcissa added in the same steely voice she'd been using for a while now. "You lost us the moment you decided to wreck our son's life. Nothing you do will ever make amends for this." Finally lowering her wand, Narcissa turned to Harry. "Are you going to arrest him now?"
"I'm afraid there's no charge we can throw at him at the moment," Harry admitted. "Technically he didn't inform Hermione that Draco was dead, he left that to the healer. Unless we can find the healer and get him to testify that Lucius put him up to it, we have no proof."
"What about all this?" Blaise questioned. "What about his confession?"
"What confession?" Lucius asked with a smirk. "I haven't admitted to doing anything. At no time have I said that I paid the healer to lie for me, for all we know the poor man was so overwhelmed with everything that was going on he got his patients mixed up and gave a bit of misinformation to Hermione. And even if you can get Pansy to admit I paid her to pose as Hermione, there's no law against that. I was merely taking advantage of an overworked healer's mistake."
"I can't believe you're going to try and wriggle out of this," Narcissa spat. "Can't you at least own up and pay for your mistakes."
"We all know the truth, but we all know I will never be arrested for what happened," Lucius said.
"I hate to say it, but he's right," Harry conceded begrudgingly. "Any conviction would be hard to pull off at best. I'm not really sure there's a law against pretending someone's dead. I mean there's laws against faking your own death for financial gain, but that wasn't the case here. At best, all Lucius would have ended up with was a slap on the wrist and a fine, possibly some community service. I don't think he would have even ended up in Azkaban, despite his past."
"The law might not be able to make you pay, but I can," Narcissa warned her husband.
"You can't divorce me, Narcissa," Lucius pointed out. "We're bonded. You're stuck with me for life."
"In name only," Narcissa retorted. "Believe you me, our marriage is over. You're going to move out of the chateau tonight, and you're going to leave Draco and I alone."
"You really think I'm going to agree to that?" Lucius scoffed. "I don't think so, Narcissa."
"You'll agree if you want to keep your manhood," Narcissa replied with a sweet smile as she aimed her wand at her husband's crotch. "I know a few good disfiguring charms, and I now have no interest in your family jewels. What would I care if you were missing a few chunks of penis?"
"You wouldn't dare." Lucius backed away even as he spoke, uncertain of what his wife would actually do in her ire.
"Try me," Narcissa threatened, giving Lucius a Malfoy smirk. "Now be a good boy Lucius and run home and pack. By the time I get back tonight, I want you gone. Go live your life, and leave Draco and I to live ours. And don't think of messing with the bank vaults. If you try and screw us over, I'll track you down and castrate you like the dog you are."
Lucius opened his mouth to speak, but when Narcissa took a step forward, her wand still pointed firmly at his crotch, he closed it again and backed away. "This isn't the end," He vowed as he headed for the door. "Trust me, I will not lose my family over a mudblood."
"Get out of my house," Draco snarled, pulling out his wand and firing a stinging hex that Lucius just say avoided by ducking his head.
Now hexes had actually being thrown, Lucius knew it was time to leave. Without another word, he hastily left the living room and departed from his son's house. Once Lucius was out of the way, everyone's focus switched back to Pansy. Since her part in proceedings had been revealed a short time earlier, she'd just been sitting on the sofa crying softly.
"I'll tell you everything you want to know," She offered as she swiped at her tears.
"We know everything we need to know," Draco snapped. Even though they hadn't heard the details of the plan, it was easy enough to figure out. Lucius had thrown his money around to get people to help him get Hermione out of Draco's life, and unfortunately he'd succeeded for seven years. "Now you can go and never come back. I never want to set eyes on you again."
"And that goes for all of us," Blaise added, glaring at Pansy. "You're no longer our friend, Pansy."
Pansy sniffed as she turned to Theo, hoping for some support there. "I'm sorry," She whispered.
"It's too late for sorry," Theo said quietly. "You're not the person I thought you were, Pansy. We're finished. I never want to set eyes on you again."
"Just leave Pansy," Daphne ordered when Pansy opened her mouth to start pleading with Theo to take her back. "You brought this on yourself, and now you're getting what you deserve."
"I really am sorry," Pansy muttered, before turning on her heel and fleeing from the room.
After Pansy left there was silence as everyone digested what had happened. Even though Harry and Ron had been confident of catching the culprit, they'd hadn't wanted things to be as terrible as they had been. As for Draco, he'd never for one moment thought his father would be involved. He hadn't wanted to believe his friends would do this to him, but he hadn't even considered his family would be so cruel as to orchestrate the entire thing.
"Thank you for putting things right and making sure the truth came out," Narcissa said to Harry and Ron as she finally broke the silence in the room.
"We're just sorry the truth was so devastating," Harry said, giving Narcissa a sympathetic smile. The older witch had been incredibly brave as she fought for Draco, but he could only imagine how broken she felt inside by her husband's betrayal.
"We're all sorry for the way things worked out," Narcissa replied. "But hopefully we'll all be strong enough to make it through the other end."
"I'm sure you will be Mrs Malfoy," Harry said as he got to his feet. "Now, I think it's time we left."
"We should go as well," Greg said, glancing over at Draco who was still sitting staring down at the carpet at his feet and seemed oblivious to the conversation going on around him.
"I think that's a good idea," Narcissa agreed with a nod. "Let's give Draco some time, and he'll be in touch when he's ready."
While everyone rose to their feet and made their way over to the door, Draco remained where he was. Hermione looked at Draco for several minutes, before heading over to where Harry and Ron were standing by the door with the others.
"I'm going to stay with Draco," She told her two friends. "Can one of you make sure the shop's sorted tomorrow?"
"Of course," Ron said, giving Hermione a peck on the cheek. "You stay here and be there for him. He really needs you right now."
"Wow, that's impressive," Daphne whispered to Ron as Hermione headed back over to Draco and wrapped him in her arms.
"What?" Ron asked.
"Letting her go," Daphne replied, giving Ron a warm smile. "It takes a big man to let someone they love go and be happy with someone else. You're a good man, Ron Weasley, and one day some witch is going to be very lucky to end up with you."
Ron blushed slightly, but he was saved from having to find an answer when Narcissa offered to see the group out. Narcissa ushered the group to the floo room, where people said their goodbyes and began to go their separate ways. Once everyone had left, Narcissa locked the floo network and slumped down in one of the chairs beside the fire as she finally let her tears spill. Narcissa sat quietly sobbing for ten minutes, before she wiped her tears and headed back to check on how her son was faring. They'd both received a major shock regarding Lucius, and she could only imagine how long it would going to take them both to recover from his betrayal.
A/N – I just want to take a moment to thank most people for their reviews and interest in this story. However, I did feel that after the last chapter I got a few reviews that were unnecessarily rude and insulting. From earlier reviews, I always knew the reveal of who was behind the plot to spilt Draco and Hermione wasn't going to be universally popular, and I had no problem with that. People are entitled to like or dislike whatever they choose, and I'm certainly not going to get upset if people dislike an element of a story (or even a whole story). However, the tone of a few reviews really annoyed me. Even if you didn't like the route I chose to go down on MY STORY – there's no need to be so rude about it.
I would have loved to have made the culprit someone unexpected, but it just wasn't possible with this story. The basics of the plan meant there was a narrow field of suspects to begin with. Then the way things went down, only someone close to Draco with power and money could had orchestrated the whole thing. That basically left me with two realistic choices – Lucius or Narcissa. I chose Lucius as I couldn't see Narcissa going to such lengths – even if she did disapprove of Draco being involved with Hermione.
I'm sure I'll also get reviews after this chapter from people not happy that Lucius wasn't arrested (although just because he hasn't ended up in jail doesn't mean he isn't being punished). Again, everyone is entitled to their opinion as to whether they like it or not, but there's no need to be rude and insulting in your reviews. Basically, if you can't be civil and you don't like what you read – don't read my stories. No-one is forcing anyone to read anything on this site – and there is certainly no-one forcing people to leave reviews that are rude and insulting in tone.
Sorry for ranting, but I just had to get this off my chest as I hate it when you get reviews that are unnecessarily rude (and I've seen plenty of them on other people's stories as well). I also just want to thank my loyal readers whose names I see after nearly every chapter - even if it's just a few words of encouragement. (I'm sure you know who you are). You are the people I publish on this site for, and I appreciate the amazing support I receive from you. Thanks again – and can people please just remember that there's no need to be rude in your reviews – after all this writing malarkey is just a bit of fun.