A/N: hey everyone, I know I would get this chapter up in two weeks and it has been something closer to three, sorry. But I must say that I looked at the calander and I swear that it slapped me in the face, I realized only a couple days ago that I only have two more weeks until my internship is done and two and a half before I have to give my final presentation! So that is why this chapter was a bit late in coming to you all, stupid evaluations and all that I had to send in. anyways, on to the next chapter of the story! Enjoy!
Chapter 14
'Genie' in a bottle
Draco was in a decided funk. He was now a married man, and a very unhappy one at that. He had originally wanted to have Hermione as his wife. It would have provided the best form of revenge and humiliation that he could think of for the mudblood that seemed to be the favorite of all the teachers and one of the biggest obstacles he had met in his father's and his combined vision of himself being the greatest student at Hogwarts. Now she was married to one of his, currently, greatest enemies and relations, Severus Snape and he was married to some random mudblood girl that the Ministry had pressed upon him.
Although as much as Draco didn't want to admit it, there were some advantages to the marriage he was now in. His wife worked at an apothecary. Normally he would have made his new wife stay at home and work like a house elf for him and be constantly accessible when he wanted to slake his baser needs. But in this case letting her work better suited his purposes. He would now be able to get almost anything he wanted, ingredient wise, through his wife and there would be no questions asked, he would make sure of it.
With the main bulk of the ingredients he needed now easily obtainable, even some of the rare ones, Draco decided that he would turn his full attentions to the ones that were now almost impossible for him to acquire. These were his father's Dementor, his father's soul stone and a Phoenix feather. He would also be in need of a body, but he figured since he could not exactly hold someone captive without notice he would leave that to last. There was no telling how long it would take for him to acquire the rest of the almost impossible ingredients, so what was the point of holding a person against their will for an undetermined amount of time. Besides such a venture would have cost him quite a lot of cash, which he publicly didn't have. Though secretly he did have a great deal, feeding, housing and medical care to keep the ingredient in top condition was not the way that he wanted to spend a portion of his small fortune.
He had been married now for two months, since August, to a woman named Hattie Sanders, now Malfoy. She was a year younger than himself and had started at Hogwarts, but her parents had transferred her to Beauxbatons, where she finished her education after Dumbledore had been killed. Draco despised her, but not as entirely as he could have. She was a half blood, her father had been a powerful American wizard who had moved back into the country during the years before Voldemort had reappeared and married a muggle. He had evidently been working in the Ministry's Muggle department. Her father had been one of the earlier fatalities in the War.
Ever since the beginnings of the Marriage Law Draco had been trying to find ways to undermine it, and perhaps even find some way to persuade some of the higher ups that it was a bad idea. He had been unsuccessful in having the law scrapped, and so far all his efforts to get it repealed sooner than it was set to expire was not happening. The law was set to expire by the time the first set of children produced by the law became of age to marry, this meant about twenty years. That was all well and fine Draco thought, except for the one major problem of the fact that there was really no such thing as divorce in the Wizarding world. He figured that if he could get the law repealed soon enough, before perhaps even his first child was born, than he would be able to kill his wife and her inferior baby and make it all look like an accident and then he would be free to marry who else he wanted, another Pureblood.
But then again the law looked as firm as ever and very few of the higher ups in the Ministry would even entertain the idea, and those that would were so far back on the order of succession for Minister of Magic that mass murder was the only way to get what he wanted. Not that the idea hadn't crossed his mind, but he knew he would be unable to do such a thing by himself and he was exceedingly cautious about drawing any type of untoward attention to himself while he was trying to 'resurrect' his father. Perhaps after his father was back… then everything would be out in the open, so to speak.
Draco had decided that at least the Ministry had bound him to a halfblood. Then at least any resulting offspring would be of three quarters blood. With careful breeding choices, he figured that within one or two generations he could restore the Pureblood tradition to the Malfoy family name.
Despite the fact that Draco despised his wife, he still did not find any problem in using her. He had made it quite clear to her that she was not loved, but married to her because of the law. He had also made it clear that he was the man of the house and she had better follow his orders, or he would make sure that she paid for it. He was not allowed to use any of the Unforgivables or a rather (he thought) disturbingly long list of other dueling type spells, but he was creative enough with what he was allowed to make sure his point was put across. He was also not above taking matters into his own hands when and where his magic was diminished.
Draco really cared less if she liked it or not, but he found that it was handy to have someone who he could pin to the bed whenever he had the notion or needed to relieve himself. Draco also found sadistic pleasure in the certainty that despite the fact the he believed that any children out of his wife would be inferior, that he had been able to get her pregnant within the first two weeks of their marriage. The fact that he knew that Hermione was still not pregnant now almost seven months after her marriage to Severus was a bit of a point of pride for him. It seemed the old man just couldn't get it up (or so he thought).
At work Draco had managed to accomplish many things on his long lonely extended banishment to the basements. He had managed to clean most of the sublevels by this time, as many of the other sublevels were significantly smaller and less full of stuff than the archives had been. Now there remained only one sublevel to attend to, the Dementor pens. This was the level that Draco had been waiting for as well as dreading ever since he was assigned the sublevels. This would be where his father and his father's soul stone would be.
About two weeks before Halloween he was handed a special pass to pin on his robes by his boss. This was a pass to allow him onto the sublevel with the Dementor pens. Working his way through the maze of halls and elevators Draco made it to the single entry way to the Dementor pens. The entrance was on the far end of a long, stone hallway that was more of an off shoot of the building than a sublevel. The hallway went from beneath the building and to what Draco assumed was under another building up above, one without so many sublevels below it. This way there was a thick insolating area of soil between the Dementors and the people both above and around the Ministry, magical and muggle alike.
As Draco met no one on his trip to the Pens he wondered why he had a pass, or what it was for. He had met no one who he was supposed to present the pass too. He noticed as he got to the end to the long hallway that the air around him seemed to get colder and he could see bits of frost beginning to collect on the walls and floors as he continued towards the Dementor pens. What he also noticed was that while he could see his breath in the air, it did not really seem as if the air around him felt any different in temperature than what it had been when he had exited the last elevator. Briefly thinking that it was odd, he stopped at the end of the corridor, his way blocked by a spiky, frost covered, wroth iron gate, beyond the bars was a dark, uncertain sized room. Over the door hung a sign that read:
PASSES SHOULD BE WORN AT ALL TIMES. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Then in smaller type:
The Ministry takes no responsibility for your health, soul or well being once you pass this point, you have been notified.
Figuring this is where he would be presenting the pass and whatever magic it had embedded within it would activate whatever it was suppose to do. Pulling items from his robe's pockets the pass fell out of his pocket. Immediately he was hit by the bone freezing chill that surrounded him and he felt a sense of such profound and deep loss that he found indescribable and fell to his hands and knees in near pain. As he hit the ground with his hands he suddenly felt better and was no longer surrounded by the blood stopping cold. Catching his breath and opening his eyes he looked at the pass, lying beneath the palm of his hand and the cold icy floor. Carefully he wrapped his fingers around the outside of the card and picked it up so that he was always touching it at all times. He was still unsure of what exactly the card did, but he knew that in a broad term that it seemed to protect him from the affects of the Dementors. He had never heard of such a thing and decided that he would have to look into procuring himself such a valuable item. It would most likely not come easily or cheaply, but he definitely saw an advantage to having such an item, especially when he was going to be interacting with his father's Dementor far longer than he would actually like in the making of the Potion.
Making sure that the card was attached securely to his robes Draco withdrew his wand and pointed it at the gate before him. After a few muttered spells the door swung into the room, seeming to clank all the way open with the sound of icy metal colliding with cold stone, and protesting hinges, causing Draco to grit his teeth and shiver. Removing a handful of candles from the seemingly bottomless pockets of his robes, Draco waved his wand and caused the candles to fly from his hand and float around him, much like a swarm of fireflies on a warm summer evening. With another flick of his wand all the candles began to burn in what seemed like defiance of the blackness beyond the door and in sharp contrast to the iciness that still clung to his soul after dropping the pass. Summoning his courage and steeling his resolve he strode forward to meet what there was beyond the door.
Once he had crossed the threshold and walked a few steps into the room there was another loud clank behind him and Draco spun around to see that the door had swung shut behind him and now stood as a tangible barrier between himself and an escape. But just as it was before, there really was no escape, there was little that he could do to change the course that his life was on, either before or after his father had been reduced to his current state of being nothing more than a shell of his former self. Perhaps when his father's body was once again reunited with his soul, Draco could find another path than the one his life was currently heading, there had to be something better or at least different out there. Turning his back on the spiky, frost covered 'door' Draco decided that he might as well get what he came to do, done. He was expected to turn in the pass by the end of the day so that he could be assigned something new.
Glancing around Draco could see that he was in a rather large chamber, about the size of the Great Hall at Hogwarts. This room however, was not warm and inviting. The stone floor was slick, the dirty white/grey of frost covered granite and he could still see his breath, hanging an unnaturally long time in the air before him as he breathed that seemed to almost condense and fall to the floor. Draco was extremely happy that he was unable to feel the effects of the Dementors with the card pinned to his robes.
He reached into his pocket again and began to take out the tools that he had brought to accomplish the task that he had set himself. First he brought out a small sweeping broom, multiplied and then enlarged them, and then with a few well practiced flicks of his wand he sent the brooms off about the room to begin sweeping up the dust, soul stones and … the bits of Dementors that seemed to have accumulated. Draco suppressed a shudder at the thought as he watched the nearest broom making a pile of what appeared to be leg and possibly toe bones…
CREEPY!!! Turning away from the disturbing sight of the bones, some seeming old and others looked disturbingly fresh, being swept into a pile Draco reached back into his pocket, pulling out a bag similar to the ones he had used to sneak the books out of the Ministry, this was where he kept all of the important things for his trip to the Pens.
He had managed in the first part of his time at the Ministry, to acquire the broken pieces of his father's wand. Normally that would have been impossible for him to have acquired such a thing, namely because well, it was his father's broken wand pieces. But he was in luck. The day that his father had been convicted and sentenced to be Kissed and his wand broken, was the day that Draco was assigned to empty all the garbage cans in and around the courtroom. Draco was extremely surprised that he had even been able to do that, seeing that it was his parents on trial. He would have assumed that they would have put him as far away as possible from the courtroom wing, but obviously along with many other instances, there had been an oversight. Draco had managed to fish out enough bits of broken wand from the garbage so that he could identify the magic within the pieces and say that it was indeed his father's. He had carefully stashed them away for possible use later, now he was going to use them to locate the items he needed in the room.
Holding the pieces of his father's wand in the palm of his hand Draco waved his own wand over the fragments and uttered the spell that had been part of Marcell's notes. 'The wand chooses the wizard' Draco remembered hearing Olivander say when he had gone to purchase his first wand, now Draco was counting on the inert qualities of the remains of his father's wand to find the wizard or in this case, his Dementor and then his soul stone. The fragment of wand began to shift in his hand, much like a needle on a compass. Draco was using the handle end of his father's wand, adorned with a striking silver snake head, it had not only been the easiest for Draco to identify, but it had also been within his father's hand every day since Draco could remember. He thought that it might be the part of the wand that would have the strongest 'attraction' to its original owner and wizard's soul or magic. The fragment's grip end, with the snake began to move in his hand, raising itself up in his hand so that its glittering tiny emerald eyes were looking towards one of the back corners of the chamber, seeming to almost come alive in his hand. With a deep breath and holding his own wand securely in his hand, Draco began to make his way towards the direction that the wand handle was facing.
As he walked the little head of the snake seemed to quest back in forth, as if it was almost trying to 'sniff out' a source of magic that it recognized. Once it had latched onto something that it seemed to recognize it lifted itself up and extended its hood, much like the live cobra it had represented. Draco merely followed the direction it faced until he came to one of the back corners. Here there were three or four Dementors congregated and lazily floating around, almost as if they were conversing. The wand snake looked intently at the group and Draco could not identify which one could be his father's. Deciding that he would take matters into his own hands he sent a stunner at the nearest Dementor as it was floating in the corner.
Much to his pleased surprise the Dementor froze in mid air, but remained floating above the ground as it had before. No one had ever really tired to send a stunner at Dementor before, mainly because one was usually nearly incapable of performing magic when under their presence. With a flick of his wrist Draco moved the first Dementor out of the way, watching the piece of wand in his hand to see if it was indeed his fathers. The snake head had no interest in the first Dementor so Draco stunned the next Dementor and repeated the process. As before the snake had no interest until he came to the fourth and final Dementor in the corner. It had seemed oblivious to his dealing with its cell mates and Draco sent a stunner in its direction. Moving the Dementor aside he watched as the head of the snake followed the Dementor as he moved it. Doing that for a minute or two he was satisfied that it was indeed the Dementor he was looking for.
Putting the piece of wand away for a moment Draco drew out another item that he had read about in Marcell's notes and had managed to find in his Swiss Bank Vault. His father had obviously heard some mention of the device somewhere and had managed to procure one for himself. Never taking his eyes off his father's Dementor Draco drew what looked to be a medium Potions vial from the special bag in his pocket that was made of what appeared to be black glass or obsidian with a clear glass stopper. It was called a Fiend Carafe by those who knew what it was, but was sometimes called a Hell's Vial by others who were less familiar with what it was and what it did. It was constructed in such a manner in which to be able to hold a vastly powerful magical creature isolated from whatever was next to it, allowing it to be easily transported or in some cases, enslaved to the owner of the vial. It was many times used to capture and ensnare fairies or sprites to do the bidding of the capturer. In this case, Draco was going to use it to transfer his father's Dementor to a safe, accessible place.
Draco had already cast the necessary spells over the vial and had it ready for this moment. He still though, did not put away his wand; he merely shifted it in his hand so that it would be out of the way. Then he pointed the end of the vial with the stopper at his father's Dementor. Removing the stopper in one fluid motion Draco muttered the charm that would invoke the powers of the vial. From in front of the vial there seemed to be a great wind that that seemed to be flowing from around his father's Dementor and into the vial, but it was not something that affected him. His father's Dementor seemed as though it was getting sucked through a funnel as the air around it drew it closer and closer to the vial's opening. Then within an instant the Dementor was no longer in front of Draco and he quickly and with a smooth motion, replaced the cover to the vial. There was a deep resounding sort of sound that usually accompanied large heavy hallway doors being closed and the stopper turned from clear to being filled with midnight black smoke that swirled within the ball of the stopper, indicating that the vial was occupied, and the dark power of the creature within.
With a sigh of relief that Draco did not realize he had been holding he carefully put the vial back into his pocket from whence it came. Then he also retrieved the handle piece of his father's wand again. Muttering the same charm onto the piece of wand as he had before, save the fact he specified that he wanted to find the soul stone instead of the body, Draco watched as the snake began to search for the direction of the soul stone. After a minute or two the little snake's head turned and lead him towards the other end of the chamber. Along the way, Draco began to pick up the piles of soul stones, bones and other… bits and put them into a large garbage bag he took out and charmed to follow him. actually he didn't have to do much at all with the ordeal except to capture and then re-shrink the brooms as he passed the piles, he had charmed a dust pan to clean up after him on most days when there were less chances of him getting caught doing such a thing and being accused of 'skimping out' on his duties.
Draco decided that he would clean up all the piles that did not have his father's soul stone first. He had managed to make it most of the way around the chamber before the little snake head on the end of his father's wand made any real change in the direction it was pointing. Going slower and with a bit more caution Draco kept a careful eye on the snake head and ended up circling around the pile until he was satisfied that he had come to the correct pile. With a few careful flicks of his wand he separated out and removed the bones and other bits from the soul stones. Draco felt that he was lucky though, for the pile of soul stones that he had just made was very small, only about ten or twelve of varying colors and sizes. Carefully splitting the pile in half and moving the resulting piles a respectable distance apart he then disposed of the pile that the snake head had no interest in.
He continued to repeat this process until he was left with one single soul stone left on the floor before him and the snake head of his father's wand staring at it intently. He was left with a soul stone about the size of a large chicken egg and looked nearly black against the frost covered floor. Reaching out he picked the soul stone up, surprised by its weight, as if he was picking up a piece of cast iron. Standing back up and holding the soul stone up to the candlelight around him he noticed that it was not completely opaque as he could see the flame behind the stone, almost as if there was a black flame that burned within. After a moment Draco tore his eyes from his father's soul stone and proceeded to place it and the handle of his father's wand back into the pouch in his pocket.
After a final quick glance around the chamber he seemed satisfied that it was done well enough for him to leave. Despite the fact he was not affected by the Dementors directly he was still very off put by the presence of a few dozen in the chamber that he could see. He was quite sure that there were more, but he could not see the whole chamber from the light that his few weak candles could provide. Turning to the door he flicked his wand as he had before and the door clanged open to allow him to leave. Draco left at a dignified pace, though he really did want nothing more than to run. But his pride wouldn't let it happen, even if there was no one around to witness such a thing.
Once he was sure the door was securely closed behind him and the candles around him, snuffed and put away Draco went back up to his boss and handed in the pass. Despite the fact that it was only eleven in the morning Draco told his boss that he wanted the rest of the day off. His boss for once did not have a problem with such an idea and told him that he was still expected back the next day for his next assignment, but was free to leave. Leaving the Ministry he apparated to Diagon Alley where he bought himself a large bottle of Firewhiskey and a large bar of the finest chocolate he could find.
Sitting before a roaring fire in the same lounge that he had sworn to avenge his father and punish Severus later that day, Draco peered at the Soul Stone he had acquired as he poured himself another glass from the already half drained bottle of Firewhiskey and munched on the chocolate. He now had almost everything he needed to begin to brew the Potion to bring back his father. Now all he needed to do was figure out how to get a Phoenix feather from Severus or Hermione's Phoenix without their knowledge if possible. And there was also that little issue of a body as well, but then he would worry about that when he absolutely needed it, he had a few ideas of where he could procure one.
"Very soon father," he said to the air as he leaned back, sipped his Firewhiskey and held the Soul stone in front of him. "Very soon until Severus breathes his last at our feet and his wife broken before she joins him on the other side of the Veil."
A/N: creepy! I almost want to reach through the screen and slowly strangle Draco, and I am the writer! Anyways, hope you all enjoyed the chapter and will send me a review (yes I know, shameless huh?). I am not quite sure when I will get the next chapter written and posted for your reading pleasure, but I hope to do so soon. I have been day dreaming about the next chapter or the chapter after it for almost three days and my coworkers are having a field day with it, (the dreamy eyed, far off look), they are just having too much fun so I guess I will have to find the time to get it out of my system and onto the screen.
As it goes, I must as always, thank my wonderful friend, beta and fan fic sis, Skydancinghobbit for the wonderful encouragement and for putting up with the occasional rant about being far away. Go read her stuff it is really good! (even if I am her beta). Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Live long, Laugh much, Love all- Dragons Quill