Harry Potter and the Catranas
Chapter 26- The Preparation.
Lucius looked through his Death Eater mask at his 'lord' wondering what this meeting was all about. He had left the Catranas after he had delivered the bad news and unfortunately only had a day to grieve for his friend before the Dark Lord called again. Two meetings in such a short amount of time was never good when it came to the Dark Lord.
"My loyal followers, I have vanquished the bastard spy from our ranks a great victory for us all. Now it is time to unleash terror on the world! To destroy all forms of happiness and force the people to live in darkness and fear! My forces have been gaining strength ever since I returned and I now believe I have enough followers to pulverize the enemy" Voldemort hissed out through his slit-like mouth, his split tongue occasionally showing through.
Lucius was getting more on edge as the minutes of the meeting ticked on, thinking that maybe Voldemort had caught Potter and the rest of the Catranas. He quickly dismissed this idea though because the Catranas were more than capable of caring for a bunch of teenagers and as far as Lucius was concerned, Voldemort thought the Catranas to be mythical.
"We are to attack at Hogwarts! There are many innocents there and the bloodshed shall be spectacular! By the time the Order Of the Phoenix gets there, there won't be any innocents left to save" The maniac snarled at the idea of the Order. "We shall gather all the Werewolves, Giants, Dementors, Vampires and Death Eaters. I can feel it now, all the glory! All the power! Mine!"
Lucius was sure that if he wasn't wearing his mask that Voldemort would be looking at him like he was crazy. He was standing at his usual position beside Voldemort with his mouth hanging open and a rather dazed expression on is face. Wondering what he should do, Lucius didn't ever register that he was being addressed by the Dark Lord. "...then Lucius, we will send out our legions to attack Hogwarts when we are at full capacity."
Lucius was by no means stupid, he knew that if he let on that he wasn't paying attention he would be severely punished so he pretended he knew what the man was saying and nodded his head making sure to block against an attack of legilimency. A mistake like that could be costly to him at this stage of the war.
"Well then, by the next week we shall attack, I shall not say the date. It would be foolish to do so if any of you have the same ideas as Snape did. Right now I want Bellatrix and Rudolphus to summon all my Vampire fighters to this house, Rabastan and Lucius you can fetch the Giants..." Lucius tuned out after that thinking to himself how he was supposed to warn the Catranas and Dumbledore of the impending battle if he was out gathering Giants with Rabastan LeStrange, a fiercely loyal Death Eater.
His attention was snapped back to the present when Voldemort announced gleefully "McNaire and Goyle, you will go to Lithuania and try and convince those bloody Catranas to come over to our side. I have it on good authority that they are against the Ministry of Magic, so maybe they will help us."
Apparently some of the other Death Eaters were under the opinion that the Catranas weren't real because many of them whispered amongst themselves. "You don't seriously believe those fools at the ministry do you? The Catranas are a real race and rest assured they are as spectacular as they are made to seem. It is even rumored that some can withstand the killing curse, although I highly doubt that." Pausing after his sentence to let the information to sink in he dismissed the group of followers by saying "Well? What are you all waiting for? Get to work!"
Lucius and Rabastan met up in the foyer of the Riddle House, masks still in place, discussing the arduous task ahead of them. Lucius was not looking forward to the trek up the mountains any more than he guessed Rabastan was. But being a loyal Death Eater Rabastan would never disobey the orders given to him by the Dark Lord, his precious master.
"Ready to leave Malfoy? We have an errand to run." Rabastan said gleefully.
"Oh shut up you fool and lets get this over with!" Lucius replied harshly, immediately changing back to his Death Eater facade with ease.
He turned and headed towards the door, and only then did it hit him. The comment Voldemort had made earlier about the Catranas popped into his head and in his shock and hope he stumbled and almost landed face first onto the dusty wooden floor boards if it wasn't for the arm that wrapped around him, stopping him mid-fall.
Looking up into the eyes of his savior, he roughly shoved Rabastan away and glared at him as if it was all his fault that Lucius fell. Dusting off invisible lint from his robes Lucius composed himself carefully, trying to force back the hope he held that his best friend was still alive and well. Although he had to seriously wonder how well he could be in the company of people who still considered him a traitor.
Rabastan trailed after Lucius as the exited the mansion and headed towards Lucius's home to gather supplies, presents to offer the Giants and clothing for the trip ahead of them.
The pair apparated to the mansion and went straight to Lucius's study to gather the elaborate gifts. Walking in the room Lucius note, much to his dismay, that he had forgotten to remove all the pictures of Severus and himself that were decorating the area.
Rabastan appeared to notice these immediately as he walked up to one and inspected it carefully, a perplexed look on his currently unmasked face. "Why have you got pictures of Snape in your study?" He said turning to look at Lucius's face.
Lucius replied truthfully "I haven't had time to remove them yet. Been too busy."
"Aha, sure" Rabastan was developing a rather nasty glint in his eye that Lucius didn't like one bit.
"Why else would they be there then?"
"Because you secretly like the man, and you are a traitor too!"
"You would do well to hold your tongue LeStrange. I happen to... I hat...he's a..." Lucius was stuttering, he was shocking himself to say the least, never mind Rabastan who was openly gawking at his superior. For some reason Lucius couldn't find it in him to bad mouth his friend, even if his life hangs in the balance.
"You can't even say you hate him, or that he is a traitor. Tell me Lucius, do you even like the Dark Lord?" Rabastan was studying him carefully for any sign of dishonesty.
"Don't be stupid Rabastan! I work for him don't I?"
"Yeah but that doesn't mean that you like him."
Lucius realized that this was not doing any good convincing the other man that he was loyal to the Dark Lord but he could not think of anything to say. For some reason, the usually reserved, aristocratic English man froze.
There was a long awkward silence in which the pair just stared at each other completely still.
"Are you a spy Lucius?" Rabastan asked curiously, his words however, held none of the malice Lucius assumed they would.
Lucius didn't answer, he just hung his head. He couldn't do anything to further incriminate himself.
His silence was taken as a yes by Rabastan, who instead of running out of the house to tell the Dark Lord, walked over to Lucius and pulled him into a hug saying "I'm so glad I'm not the only one upset about Severus!"
Lucius just stood there with his eyes as big as saucers and staring at the wall in front of him, unsure whether this was real or not.
After Rabastan stepped away from him, Lucius came to his senses and began discussing the task ahead of them. "We have to go and summon the giants remember. Shall we go now, or do we wait a while till we have had more time to grieve and discuss this latest development?"
Rabastan looked over at Lucius and proclaimed, "We should grieve and talk first, I'm not much liking the idea of visiting the giants anyway. Besides, if the Catranas are real, and Voldemort recruits them, I doubt very much that it would matter if the giants are present at the battle anyway."
Lucius stared at him for a few seconds, just remembering the tasks that some of the other Death Eaters were given. "You just gave me the best idea Rabastan. How about we go to the Catranas home and warn them about the Death Eaters coming before McNaire and Goyle get there."
The other man just looked at Lucius like he was insane "Do tell Malfoy, Voldemort didn't tell anyone who doesn't need to know where they are, how are we supposed find them? McNaire and Goyle are stupid, but they are not that stupid, they would notice us following them."
"I already know where the Catranas live though. Severus was one."
"What!?!" Rabastan yelled rather amazed at the new information "Well, where do they live then? And doesn't that mean that he could still be alive, Voldemort mentioned something about the Catranas being able to withstand the killing curse?"
"Yeah he did. But you have to take into consideration that he had also been put under the cruciatus curse for a few long minutes first. That and Severus never mentioned anything about being able to stay alive after that had been cast on his people."
"I really don't think they would go experimenting with something like that though do you? Maybe it was just a one off thing."
The two walked along the empty halls of the Malfoy Manor, their feet echoing off the walls. Lucius never realized how empty this house was till after Severus's death. Usually, when Lucius got bored and the house was too dark and empty for him he would go to Hogwarts and spend time with his friend till he could stall no longer and had to go home to his unfaithful wife.
Coming to the door Lucius grabbed his cloak and handed a spare one to Rabastan so they could easily hide their identities from the other Death Eaters and walked to the edge of the anti-apparition borders.
Lucius grabbed Rabastan's hand and they were both gone with a crack to the homeland of the Catranas.