Durmstrang

Year 1

Round 7: Deadly Hallows

SPECIAL RULE: Change of perspective: Pure-blood

Theme: Let Bygones Be Bygones

Write about a character forgiving someone who wronged them.

Buzzwords: Moral ideals

An eye for an eye

Finding common ground

Main prompt: 2. [Character] Original character

Optional prompts:

11. [Plot point] Power cut

9. [Object] Dragon tattoo

Word count: 3549, using the 50 words extra.

Betaed by: Eben, Mia, Georgie and NN. Thank you all so much!

Author's Note: This is a Space Futuristic AU. But I'd like to call it, the origin of wizards on Earth and how life is 2 millennia from now.

The Lucius and Ginny in this story are original characters named after the canon characters. While they may bear some resemblance to the Lucius and Ginny, you know, their characterisation is not intended to reflect canon. They are not the canon characters as you will see later in the story. Imagine having kids and naming them Lucius Malfoy.

The ranks in the Alliance Fleet featuring in the story are: Ensign Colonel= Lieutenant Captain Admiral, from lowest to the highest ranking.

Star Date 3190.57

The Alliance Star Station, XTrok Cor

"You cannot avoid me forever, Lieutenant," Lucius said when he spotted Ginny Weasley across the hallway.

She stopped and turned to face him.

"No, but I can certainly try, Mr Malfoy. I can certainly try."

"That would be Colonel Malfoy. I am no longer just a visitor onto the station. I have requested a permanent transfer as a science engineer. You cannot ignore my status anymore," he said.

For a moment, he'd expected her to say that she "could certainly try" again. Not that anyone would ever say anything at the insubordination considering who he was.

"You? Transferring onto an Alliance Station? What, has the fact that you lost the battle against the Alliance made you unwelcome back in Rosderoth? It's been years."

Lucius didn't know what to say. She was right. His people were angry. They considered themselves the purer race. Shadarians, like she was, were seen as less. Once upon a time, the two nations had been one, until one had chosen the path of war and the other the path of peace. One by one, they'd moved to Shadra, the nearby unoccupied planet and they'd made it their own. The Rosderians remaining on the home planet had been so angry and hurt at the people who were betraying their blood that they'd given them a new name, Sharidans. It meant blood-traitor in ancient Rosderian, whereas Shadarians meant peace seeker. It'd taken him years to stop calling them Sharidans.

After a few years, they'd invaded Shadra, in hope to regain the people they'd lost and convince them that a pure world was better. They'd failed; their brothers and sisters didn't want to start a war with the other planets. When his people had decided to experiment on Shadarian children, that's when his conscience had drawn the line. Seeing the then eleven years old Ginny Weasley in the slave camp had broken him.

He'd felt such relief when the Alliance, an association of planets who all believed in intergalactic peace, had won the war against Rosderoth. Lucius had tried to speak up, to make a change, but he'd been shut down and threatened. At some point he'd feared that if he didn't do what they said, they'd brand him with the dragon tattoo, as they did with all Shadarian children and war slaves and throw him in jail. Oh, how he'd come to hate that tattoo.

The Alliance had been his chance to escape, which is why he'd joined it. And he was glad that he'd done so, even if his time at the Alliance Academy had been different. Whereas people studied to climb up ranks, he went there to be integrated as an Alliance officer, retaining his home-world rank of Colonel. They'd refused to let him get an equivalent rank or start from the bottom, as it wasn't proper; for he was above a mere Ensign. Considering Alliance officers had ranks based on old Earth Navy ranks, he definitely stood out. But he couldn't complain.

Now he had common ground with Ginny Weasley, Lieutenant in the Alliance Fleet. But she'd been avoiding him like the plague, and even now, while facing him, Lucius could see she was miles away in thought.

"You really don't want to speak with me, do you?" he asked her in the end.

"And why do you think I should? Do you think that because it's been fifteen years that I've forgotten or forgiven all that you and your kind has done to me? You might have chosen to wear now an Alliance uniform, but I do not trust it one second."

He turned his eyes to watch something behind her. She was right. And in that moment, he felt bad for requesting Captain Amala to let him work with her inside the holographic imaging room, or HIR as it was called. The computer generated and controlled a whole new world that they could interact with, being able to even teleport within.

"I cannot blame you, but we do need to work together. We need to work in HIR on the program for Admiral Folan's wedding. You're the science chief officer and I know you've helped with the design of it. I am an engineer. I thought we'd make a good team for it when I heard that the wedding would be on the station."

He could tell that she really didn't want to, but subconsciously, she recognised that it was a good choice. They were perfect for the job and that was why the Captain had accepted to assign them together. The Admiral of the Alliance Fleet 90 had chosen the station as a wedding location, for here he'd met his future wife. He'd requested a special program in the HIR, resembling 20th century Earth Magical weddings as per tradition in the bride's family.

"Very well. Meet you at the HIR in 3 hours. Do not be late." She then left as quickly as possible. But it gave him hope that It was a step into the right direction.

The next three hours were pure torture for him. He'd even considered going to the Captain and announcing his retreat from the wedding procedures. But then, he'd be a coward. She deserved his true apology. And he longed for her understanding too.

For years and years, his people had treated Shadarians as less worthy, as less anything. The person in him, that she had changed, had been so happy to see that for other planets, everyone was equal and that Shadarians, especially, were treated with respect. They mattered in the eyes of civilised races and that they had been fought for.

Lucius wished that there was a way to remove the dragon tattoo. But after years of searching, he'd failed to find one. He hated that she was branded forever and it was his fault. Hundreds of people were, and he'd been the one to brand them. She could attempt to make it invisible, but he knew that it didn't work that way.

When he arrived at the HIR, she was already there.

"Lieutenant."

"Colonel."

Lucius didn't know what else to say, so they both entered the room in silence.

"I've taken the liberty of working the program into a piece of Magical Earth history. Back then wizards were separated from Muggles, as they were called back then. But since the future bride is from today's Earth where both cultures have been combined, I was thinking we could add elements to a traditional wedding, modifying the program," he told her.

"Computer, initialise the protocol 20th century Magical World," Lucius spoke and the room shifted.

He blinked as he looked around. Were they supposed to be in a bookstore? And why did the Lieutenant look eleven again?

"Computer! Stop the program!"

Everything around them froze and unfroze several times, with no effect. The people were transparent now, but they were still moving.

Lucius frowned, confused, but before he could open his mouth to ask her, she'd pushed him into the side.

"What did you do?"

"N-nothing," he stuttered. "This wasn't the program I had hoped it to be."

"Computer, what seems to be the problem?" she asked.

"There is a power cut onto the station, Lieutenant. I cannot remove you from the program. The HIR is running on alternative energy."

He watched as she put her hands on her head, before she grabbed him, and to his shock, she teleported them away.

"What was your plan? Just to leave me here? That's why you took this program? To break me?"

Lucius put his hands in the air, backing away from her. "No! I took it from the library. I didn't know what it would be. I thought it would be about a castle or something as it was on the cover."

She snorted. "You really mean to tell me you don't know what this program is all about."

"No!"

"It's a piece of Earth history. It's taught at the Academy. It tells the tale of a wizard hero of the 20th century called Harry Potter. My parents named me after his wife, for she was brave, they said. My last name is not Weasley. It's Morell, a Shadarian name. Ginny Weasley Morell. There is one character with your name in Earth history too. Just like you, he was the bad guy. Maybe you share ancestors."

"That's ridiculous! Lucius Malfoy is a completely Rosderian name." And yet, he knew that Rosderians had gone everywhere in the galaxy before turning to civil war.

"And I take it that you've forgotten that four millennia ago, Rosderian Sorcerers had tried to invade Earth, thinking it defenceless and they were squashed by the Earth's own wizards. You're so ignorant of your own history."

He looked at her and sat down. He didn't want to fight with her. If only she knew… Lucius was sure that she didn't know the true Shadarian history.

"You're right, I am. I was taught that Rosderoth was the greatest planet in all galaxies. And I've applied that all my life, up to the point they started taking children." Then everything had changed. He'd changed.

"That's rich coming from you. You were my jailer. You experimented on me. And now what? You expect me to believe you didn't want to? That you didn't want to brand me as one of your slaves?"

She came next to him, and raised her sleeves. He baulked upon seeing the dragon tattoo that he'd put onto her skin. It was visible even if she wasn't quite in her own body.

"I don't expect you to believe anything. I want a chance to show you that I have changed."

She huffed. Lucius was sure that she wouldn't speak with him again if they weren't in a bit of a situation caused by the power cut.

"I don't think I will ever be able to see anything else in you. But we do need to work together. I am not sure if you know, if you're stuck in the HIR during a power cut, if you don't finish the program before the alternative energy runs out, you risk permanent brain damage."

"But that's—" he started.

"Something that they didn't tell you when you transferred here? Yeah, I'd think so, considering you didn't study at the Academy."

For the first time, he glared at her. He'd studied at the Academy. Just not officially. He'd worked hard to be where he was, to be somebody worthy. Being a pure-blood Rosderian didn't buy him any points on other planets. Sometimes, he'd have preferred to be invisible than have people look at him with such hatred.

"I wasn't aware of it, no. But I am aware now. Do you think there's a chance that the power would return? If not, how much more time do we have?"

"I guess there is one way to find out," she said. "Computer! How long do we have until the alternative energy runs out?"

"Approximately two hours."

"Computer, do you see what is happening on the bridge?"

"Negative. All systems were shut down."

"It's station wide. That means they will focus on getting the habitat places up first. I suspected it, but I'd hoped it would have been restrained for the entertainment system since we use a different power source."

"So we have no choice but to finish this story?" he asked warily.

"Yes, but we can't really do that, because we already destroyed the narrative by teleporting away."

Lucius looked around. She'd brought them into a nice and quiet forest. He could smell the freshness of the grass and hear the singing of the birds.

"About that," he spoke, "how did you do that? I wasn't aware that Shadarians could do it." A lie. They could do it, but not without their powers unlocked.

"Something else that we're inferior to your kind?" she bit out.

Of course, she'd misunderstand it. Not that he could blame her.

"NO! Why do you find the need to take everything I say and make it against you. I asked a genuine question. I know you have every right in the galaxy to hate me. I told you, I don't expect you to believe me. But I want a chance to prove myself. I have spent fifteen years trying to change my ways. And when, five years ago, the Alliance had agreed to my transfer, to integrate me as more than just a liaison officer, I'd never been happier. It meant one step in the right direction. I haven't purposefully sought you out, but you've been purposefully avoiding me to such a degree that the only way to talk properly with you was to request this assignment. I wanted to tell you in person that I will be a permanent worker on the station."

"I'm sorry," she said, rubbing onto her tattoo. He winced. She'd often done that as a prisoner. He raised a hand to stop her, his eyes fixated on her tattoo.

"No, I am sorry. I hurt you badly. And I am one of the people who destroyed your childhood. I branded you. You're my victim. And just because I have changed, doesn't mean you have to accept it. Or even talk with me. It was wrong of me to try and force you to talk with me." Lucius gestured around. "This is not how I imagined we'd talk."

"Trust me, without the power cut, I wouldn't be talking with you much. But, for my plan to work, I need your help."

"Anything," he said, willing her to see he meant it.

"Since we started in that shop and I had this book in my hand, I think that this is the second story of Harry Potter's life. It ends when this big snake dies. More or less. He kills it to save my namesake. But right now, everyone is looking for us and um, I don't know exactly what their reactions will be. I couldn't watch this past the first few minutes before I gave up on it. It was an optional thing for the Middle Ages Earth Magical History. I've seen enough."

"Why? Why couldn't you watch more?"

She sighed and sat down on the grass, a few inches away from him. She raised the book that she still had in her hand and took the black notebook out of it. "Because your character gives this to mine. It's a Horcrux. A dark form of Magic that's been completely forbidden on Earth since the 21st century. I recognised it because Earth is not the only place it's been. The other planets had banned it too. The original Ginny Weasley had not known what it was and had poured her soul into it."

He couldn't believe it. That was terrible.

"Why?"

"Because he didn't like her father. I just couldn't stand the thought of someone with your name doing something like this to someone with my name. It brought back many memories. Bad memories. I know that she becomes a hero, but when she started writing into this notebook, she was feeling invisible. Just like I had felt during my time on Rosderoth. I was nothing. None of the Shadarians were. Not even before, when I was on my own planet. Nothing was in our favour. Other races who lived on Shadra had just left or adhered to the Rosderian behaviours. We were suddenly less worthy. And then of course, the ink. The moment it touched the notebook, it looked just like my tattoo."

Lucius couldn't contain his tears hearing her speech. Rosderians had a lot to answer for what they'd done to their own blood, pure-blooded or not.

"Why are you crying?" she asked, and raised his head to look her in the eyes.

"Because I was part of the problem. And it took them asking me to experiment on children to realise how wrong we were and how deep we had fallen. I know you don't believe me, but it could have been worse than how you had it. I did my best."

"Maybe I do," she whispered and it gave him such hope that if hope could be energy, the entire station wouldn't be suffering from power cuts for centuries to come. . . "But I cannot promise you anything."

"That's all I ask for," he said, wiping his tears. "What is your plan to avoid our minds being possibly broken by being trapped within the HIR during the power cut?"

"Ah, indeed. The power cut. What brought us here, a failure in the system. You know what's funny, I usually would help Philip, the chief engineer whenever we got power cuts. We would work to get people who were stuck in HIR or help at the infirmary, if surgeries were taking place. Now, I am the one stuck here and I don't think anyone will focus on it because restoring the oxygen system around the station is more important."

"Maybe Philip will miss you and come to check," he suggested.

"Perhaps. However, in case it doesn't happen, the only plan I have is to teleport us near the castle and kill the snake ourselves and hope that will end the programme. It hopefully should register as a programme accomplished, since the script is already off rails."

"You still haven't told me how you can teleport without the use of a device." That was something to think on more for later as well.

"I cannot. But wizards from Earth can. They used it to call it Apparition. Theoretically, this body is too young for Apparition. But I'm an adult who has the capacity to understand the process. What I need your help with is that I don't think I can do it safely again. I am way too tired and lacking the energy and focus needed for such a feat. You need to be the one taking us to Hogwarts to kill the snake. You're a Rosderian and you have your innate ability to teleport without the risk of splitting yourself in pieces."

Lucius frowned. That was such a weird explanation. He was more inclined to believe that somehow, her Rosderian powers were being unlocked.

"But I would still need to know at least something of the destination," he said in the end.

"You would have to look inside my head. I have seen and read the first part. I know how everything looks and where everything is."

"What?" He couldn't believe what she was saying! "Five minutes ago you were hating me and now you suddenly tell me that your plan to get out of this was to let inside your head? You trust me now?"

She stood up. "No, Colonel. I do not trust you. I may believe you, or start to, but I do not trust you. Trust is earned and there's a long way to go. However, I do not want brain damage. I do not want to be stuck here while the energy runs out. Yes, we could gamble and wait for them to restore the power. Theoretically, we have trained to do it in less than two hours. But two hours is what we have. Usually, the programs in HIR are short, not days long like this one. I am not even going to acknowledge that this was supposed to be a wedding programme. Not a history lesson. Now, will you do it or not?"

Lucius looked around, hesitating. He didn't want to hurt her more. In the end, he stood up, facing her.

"Very well."

Later that night, Lucius found himself knocking on her quarter doors. What he'd seen in her mind…. Shadarians had been right to leave Rosderoth when they did. Better to be a blood-traitor than a pure-blood monster.

"Enter."

He slowly stepped in, keeping close to the door.

"Why are you here?"

"To apologise," he said, tears shining in his eyes.

"You've done nothing but that ever since you arrived on the station."

"But I didn't understand then. Seeing in your mind. How invisible you've felt, all of you, Shadarians, and how much that tattoo affects you. I thought I understood how you'd felt, because I felt trapped too, having to do things I didn't want to... But I didn't. I cannot even begin to comprehend the injustice you have suffered. My very presence affects you. I've decided to request another transfer."

To his surprise, she smiled.

"No. You can stay. You're not the only one who learnt something today."

"What do you mean?"

"I had always thought that in order to forgive someone, a Rosderian, it'd have to be an eye for eye, a tooth for a tooth. Or that I'd have to somehow trust them completely. That's not the case."

She stopped and looked over to him, and once again, it gave him hope.

"I can forgive, I may not trust, but I can forgive and I've forgiven you. I can guess we can work together now to prepare the wedding."

In one instant, Lucius crumbled at her feet, crying. He couldn't believe it. Of course, he knew that he'd have to tell her the true history of her people, but for now, he would just be grateful. Who knew that power cuts could be useful.