READ BEFORE CONTINUING!

Hello, my fellow readers, this is the first version of the Crossroads story. Right now the story is being reworked. For any new readers, I recommend reading that one instead, but if you wish you can read this one. However, know that this version of the story won't be updated anymore. For readers that have been reading this version since the beginning, I welcome you to read my new version of this story. The newly reworked version will be a lot different from this one, so you won't be able to understand later chapters unless you read the other one from the beginning.

Chapter 1

A sombre night

It was horribly dark outside, so much so that barely anything could be seen without a source of light. This lack of light made everything appear more menacing, and frightening than they really were. But of course -as with everything- there was a reason for such darkness. This night the moon was not shining, nor did the stars twinkle in the sky. Due to this darkness, everyone had opted to stay indoors, where they had a fire roaring, and the lights shining brightly as ever. Despite the outside, everyone was enjoying the comforts of their own home, except for one person who appeared to be unfazed and pleasantly walking about outside, without using his wand to shine the way as if he could see just as clearly without it.

He was an elegant and refined man that gave off the appearance, and the presence of a gentleman who was used to commanding others, and getting what he wanted. His clothes were made of the richest material, and the way he walked was flawless, without a doubt of where he was going. Lucius Malfoy's appearance had always been impeccable, even if he was to go on an excursion for the ministry, or go on a raid to do his Lord's bidding- he always made it his responsibility to dress to impress, even if no one was around to appreciate it.

And indeed no one was outside, not even the usual animals that roamed the manor were currently outside. It certainly was dark, and any wizard would have been afraid of walking outside, in such unwelcomed conditions. But for him darkness itself though never really bothered him; after all, as a child, he had long gotten accustomed to it. The reason being that his late father had always kept the manor shrouded in darkness, and much darker, than most people would have been comfortable with- or used to. He remembered how Abraxas Malfoy would order their house elves to only light as many candles as he deemed necessary; that was not to say that he was cheap, or lacking in wealth to buy more candles, far from it; his father-just like the house he lived in- liked to have his home dark.

Of course Lucius had never thought much of his father's odd behaviours, but today he was glad his father had inadvertently conditioned him to be accustomed to the dark; otherwise, he would have been stumbling down the path to his family's manor, something that he would never had tolerated, even if no one was around to see it. But though he was not stumbling, he was having a bit of a hard time staying on the path, since it was fully covered in thick mist, and the manor -which was probably gleaming with light- was shrouded by the mist, so much so that he couldn't even see the faint outline in the distance, or anything resembling a manor in the distance.

The mist was that thick, making it hard to see ahead of him, and he was tempted to bring out his wand to light the way, as any wizard would. But he suppressed the urge and kept walking down the path, using his familiarity of the path to stay on track of it. Which he could… achieve, despite the unforgiving terrain, but he did manage to reach the manor- which was gleaming with lights and standing proudly as it always did.

Satisfied that he had finally reached his destination, Lucius sighed softly, and walked up to the stairs to the manor; finally arriving at his house after such a long day of work. Lucius made his way towards the unopened door, not making any motion to open it, walking on as if he intended to ram through the door. And then as if on cue, the door magically swung open just before Lucius made contact with the door. Unfazed, as if this was a normal occurrence Lucius walked through, where he was greeted by one of the family's many house elves.

"Master, we have been awaiting your arrival. We just finished cooking a warm meal for you, and-." Lucius barely looked down, or acknowledge the house elf as he walked on, barely missing him as the elf quickly moved out of his way. It went without saying that he would have been greatly annoyed and angry if he had hit the bloody elf, and even more so if he had caused him to stumble.

"Is my wife home yet?" he barked as he kept walking down the well light manor; once again keeping his gaze fixed ahead of him, without so much as glancing down to look at the elf as he spoke. And Even though he wasn't looking down at him, he knew without a question that the elf was still following him, as amicably, and silently as he possibly could.

"Mistress Malfoy has not arrived yet, sir. She ordered me to tell you, that she will be out longer than expected, and that Master Severus Snape has come to watch over young master Malfoy- sir."

Lucius gave a soft, barely hearable huff of acknowledgement that barely any other witch or wizard would have picked up. And yet he knew that the elf would hear it, and absorb the admission like a sponge. That was because he barely acknowledged any of the various house elves they had, much less praise them, but of course, he was always there when they needed correction, or discipline.

Proving his suspicions, the elf stopped and gave a small squeak of excitement, and left with a loud pop; not caring that he had not been ordered to leave. Lucius had certainly not done so, but he must have known that he had nothing more to say to him, since he would have done so already, either that or he was far too excited to care. Either way, he was going to summon him, later on, to punish him, for such an unrefined display of excitement, such a thing is not becoming of a Malfoy house elf.

He took a note of it, put at the back of his mind, and kept on walking down the familiar and luxurious Malfoy manor, passing by the various portraits of his ancestors along the way. His destination was still unclear to him since he was still debating between going to see Severus who was no doubt in the library or to go check on Draco at the nursery. Of course, the decision should have been simple, since as a Malfoy he should choose his guest- even if that guest was an old friend- over his own son, who he knew was well taken care of by the house elves. But as a father, and a newly turned father no less, he found himself leaning towards going to see his young son, and making sure he was ok.

Slightly frustrated, the decision was still unmade as he walked to the dividing point between the two, which turned out to be the dining hall. And as Lucius got further inside the room, his footsteps began to stutter slightly, prompting him to make his decision, and so without thinking it further, he took a left, heading towards the exit of the hall, and up the stairs that would take him to young Draco. And after taking the stairs it wasn't long before he was right in front of the doors of his son's nursery. Any other day Lucius would have gone to see Severus, but this night was different, and he felt the need to look over his son in case something happened.

Lucius stopped right in front of the doors staring at the dark wood, all the while debating whether to go inside, or turn back around and go greet Severus, and of course, thank him for coming in to watch Draco. All the while he thought of how absurd he must look, standing just outside of a room, debating whether to go inside or not. Surely a lord of Malfoy would not be stopped by such a mundane decision. And for a moment he was close to turning around, that was until he heard a loud pop of apparition, and a small cry coming from inside the room. Lucius' heart stuttered a little, and he was filled with utter dread.

Naturally, the first thing he thought was that someone had broken in somehow, even though that was unlikely given the many wards protecting the manor, but that did not come to his mind at the time.

Not wasting any time, Lucius hurriedly took out his wand from a holster he had hidden on his wrist, and slammed the doors open with his wand, and like a well-seasoned dueller he quickly detected the enemy and pointed his wand at the intruder, with a curse at the tip of his tongue ready to kill if the need arises. Of course what came later was something he did not foresee, or expected.

"Lucius put your wand down!" shouted Narcissa from across the room. The shout alone, was enough to snap him out of his shock before he could send out the curse. And Lucius really looked at the intruder and was relieved to see his wife standing by the window with their wailing son in her arms, trying to cradle him and calm him back down, while she gave him a fearful and annoyed look.

Quickly seeing his mistake, Lucius gave her an apologetic look, and quickly lowered his wand, and put it back inside his holster, feeling slightly unnerved that he had been very close to cursing his wife, and son by mistake.

"I apologize, Cissa. I thought someone had broken in. It was not my intention to startle you or Draco."

Lucius gave her another apologetic look, and even though he wanted to get nearer to great them, he could see that she was still not convinced enough to allow him to, and even though he was the head of the house of Malfoy, he would never dare cross her in any way so he opted to stand his ground.

Narcissa sent him another annoyed look, and from where he was he could see her exhausted expression, that was evident from the dark shadows under her eyes. And he knew that wherever she had been, it had fully exhausted her, just as he was exhausted from the day's work, making him feel even worse that he had frightened her. Both of them stared at each other, all the while Draco continued to wail in her arms.

"As much as I want to hex you for giving me a fright, I accept your apologies, but only because I know you are on edge."

She turned away from him, and looked down at Draco, making soft hushed noises to calm him back down, and to put him back to sleep.

Finally not having his wife scrutinizing eyes on him, Lucius deflated and slumped his shoulder slightly, relaxing while still maintaining the appearance of a pureblood. He was glad to hear that Narcissa understood why he had jumped to conclusions so quickly and happy to hear that she understood him so well that she knew he was on edge, even though his appearance was impeccable- only she would ever be able to sense his real mood. And once more he wanted to approach her to greet her, but he knew that he couldn't, not while Draco was still crying and all her attention was on him. And he suspected that would take a long while since he never had any luck with putting Draco to sleep; the child would just cry harder when he took him in his arms, and no matter how much he tried to soothe him, he just didn't like being on his arms. So naturally, he expected her to have the same response.

But instead, Draco quickly quiet down, and made gurgling sounds, that sounded like happy baby sounds to Lucius. And he was slightly shocked, to see her fondly smile at Draco, and put him back on his coot. Seeing as how quickly Draco quiet down with Narcissa, it made Lucius think that Draco just didn't overall like him for some reason, either that or he liked frustrating him to no end.

After she put Draco on the cot and gave him a small kiss on the forehead, she looked up at him once more, and gave him a forgiving, and knowing look, giving Lucius the go-ahead to approach her.

Lucius gladly walked towards his wife and son, and when he was finally in front of her, he gave her a less guarded expression which few people- if any- ever got to see. Seeing her expression change to one akin to love, Lucius bent down slightly and gave her a soft kiss, which she thankfully accepted. The kiss itself lasted a while longer than a little peck to the lips, and Lucius found himself leaning into it more as the time passed. Unfortunately, however, his efforts to apologize were met with resistance, as Narcissa slapped him not too harshly on the cheek.

Lightly shocked, Lucius reeled back, much too unsophisticated for his liking, and he looked down at his slightly shorter wife, gaping at her all the while. "That is for nearly giving me a heart attack Lucius Malfoy!" she berated him, as she put her hand on her hips completing the look of an angry wife.

"It won't happen again." He said softly, as it was the only thing his startled mind could come up with. Of course, he was not startled by the pain of the slap itself, but rather by the fact that she had slapped him- which wasn't a usual occurrence, but something that tended to happen every once in a while.

Narcissa nodded approvingly, and she lifted her hand to stroke the cheek she had slapped, with a loving caress, as she looked at him lovingly. And for the billionth time since he had married her, Lucius wondered once about more the nature that governed the actions of women which always manage to confuse him. He simply did not understand how someone could turn from forgiving, to angry, to back to forgiving in matters of minutes- it just didn't make sense to him.

Lucius train of thought came to an abrupt stop when Narcissa stopped stroking his cheek, put her hand down, and turned away from him. He watched her like a hawk as she walked to the armchair near the lit fireplace, and sat down upon it with all the elegance of a Malfoy, and a pureblood. All the while, Lucius kept staring at her still bewildered by her actions, and as she noticed his state of mind, Narcissa folded her legs and gestured at the armchair stationed beside her.

Not needing any more encouragement, Lucius snapped from his slight shock and headed to the armchair Narcissa had gestured to. Without saying a word, or even making any sound; Lucius sat on the armchair, folded his legs in a more masculine manner than his wife, and turned his head ready to listen to Narcissa's account of her day. He didn't even realize that every thought and idea of going to see Severus was thrown out the window, as he made it his priority to speak to his wife instead.

"I take it you just arrived? The elf informed me that you were going to be late."

Narcissa nodded in affirmation, and she softly patted her leg as if to rid of all dirt from her skirt, even though there wasn't any, and she simply performed the action out of habit.

"Yes, much like you I just arrived, and much like you I came to check up on Draco, of course unlike you I apparated instead of walking all the way here. And before you ask, I was out with Bella, making last minute preparations."

Lucius frowned in confusion; he had not expected Narcissa to be out with Bella, especially when Bella had a mission of her own this very evening- one of great importance, or so she said. Of course, when it came to Bella, every mission given to her by the Dark Lord was always one of utter importance, so he could not possibly know if this one was truly that important, but it appeared to be since she needed her sister's help.

"I was under the impression that she had everything prepared weeks ago" he declared, allowing a slight bit of confusion go through his voice.

Narcissa nodded, before explaining.

"She was mostly ready, but we had to make some last minute checks on the Longbottom's house to make sure the wards had not been changed prior to this evening. Also, I made sure that she had full confidence in her knowledge of breaking all of them."

Lucius nodded his understanding this time, and even though Narcissa made it sound like she had helped Bellatrix for her sister's own good, he knew better. The reason why Narcissa was so adamant to make sure Bella was fully prepared was because she worried for her sister, and to appease her overprotectiveness over her, something that had manifested after her sister Andromeda betrayed them.

"I see." That was all he said on the matter, not wanting to tell her that he knew the truth about her intentions; he just wanted her to be happy with helping her older sister, something Lucius had never felt, being the only son of Abrax Malfoy.

Accepting his answer, Narcissa once more patted her pants, looked down at the slight crease on her pants, and attempted to smooth it down. And Lucius knowing his wife knew right away that she was looking for a way to breach a conversation she wanted to have with him- a conversation he knew she was dying to speak about. And while Lucius would have just brought up the topic himself, but he found himself giving his wife more time to say it instead.

And after a while of waiting, and her patting down her skirt; he thought that she wouldn't bring it up, until she took a deep breath, and looked up at him once more.

"How about the dark lord? Has he gone to the Potters?"

And finally as if a bubble of uncertainty had broken, Lucius shifted around his seat to get himself on a better position so that he could better speak to his wife, and he also, slid a mask of coldness and assertiveness over his face, successfully masking all expression of love, and care from his face. This was something he always did whenever he had to speak about the dark lord and their cause- something he had gotten quite good at.

"I am not sure. He told us that he'll be going to kill the Potters tonight, but failed to say anything ells, nor did I ask." He declared.

And as he said the words, Narcissa shook her head and folded her hands on top of her lap, and Lucius took it as an attempt to stop herself from fidgeting with her skirt.

"What a waste." She said softly and turning her head to look out the window, and at the darkness that was the outside.

Lucius raised an eyebrow intrigued, and not at all angry that his wife was feeling guilty for the death of blood traitors; but rather shared her way of thinking, knowing full well what she meant.

"Indeed, tonight two old and powerful families are to be wiped out of existence. Not to mention that the blood purity of the Longbottoms has always been undeniable; it is a waste that they'll all die tonight."

At his words, Narcissa turned her head away from the window and looked at him once more, and as he looked at her he could see the hidden sadness upon her face. And once more he was not angry that she felt this way; Narcissa -being a mother- would know that the idea of losing her son, or a loved one was horrible to her- especially when their son is the same age as the two boys being put to death this very evening. He knew that she found it difficult to not sympathize with them.

"You don't suppose our Lord thinks the same way?" she asked, showing her uncertainty more clearly, all the while Lucius kept his mask in place.

"One can never be too certain when it comes to our Lord's way of thinking. But in this case, I am certain that he too will see the waste of spilling such pure magical blood, at least in the Longbottoms case." He declared, while he looked down at his trimmed nails; attempting to look as uncaring as possible.

"Regardless, we must do what we must, and so must our lord. If disposing of the Potters and the Longbottoms allows us to win this war, then it must be done." His voice rang over the quiet nursery room, and after a long while of silence Draco made a winning sound from where he lay on his cot, almost as if he was against what was being said.

Narcissa turned her head to look at the coot; like any mother, she could not help herself, but to look at her son to make sure he was ok. And as she turned her head, and allowed the light of the fireplace to shine upon her face- Lucius could make out her true feelings clearly. And what he saw was what he has suspected- uncertainty, sadness, as well as determination; of course, she knew as he did that whatever happened today was for their cause.

Narcissa shifted around her seat once more and unfolded her hands laying them limply upon her lap.

"For the greater good." She declared.

Lucius straightened his back and was about to say words of reassurance when a sharp, burning pain emanated from his arm where the dark mark was located.

Lucius gave a hiss of pain and held his wrist with his other hand with force as if holding on to his own arm would lessen the pain. Of course, that didn't happen as he knew it wouldn't, and the dark mark continued to burn so ferociously, that he was sure that he had never felt the dark mark burn so strongly before. Lucius looked down at his arm; pain was written all over his face, as well as worry, and with the hand that was holding his wrist, he brought his robe's sleeves up, allowing him to see the dark mark which was pitch black, and causing the skin around it to turn bloody red.

Lucius let out a gasp of pain, and he could see Narcissa shoot up from her seat from the corner of his eye. And in mere seconds she was in front of him, he felt her put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, which helped, but wasn't making the pain go away- he knew very well that there was only one way to get the pain to go away.

"What's wrong?" she asked unsurely, and with clear worry in her voice.

Lucius looked up at her and nodded.

"He's calling all of us," He stuttered softly, after a particularly painful spasm overcame his arm, making his wrist feel like it was being stabbed by millions of knives, and he knew that he needed to get to his lord this instant unless he wanted to be killed by the mark.

Lucius shot up to his feet, the hastiness of his action almost caused Narcissa to stumble back. And Lucius managed to shoot her an apologetic look her way, but that was all he could do since he had no time. He wiped out his wand once more, and without further thinking, he summoned his mask which appeared from thin air, and on his face blocking his face from view. And then he put his hood up blocking his familiar and iconic hair from view, all the while putting a charm on it so that it wouldn't fall back.

"I don't like this, something must have gone wrong. Don't leave the house, protect Draco." He hissed through gritted teeth, as the pain worsen.

Lucius walked away from Narcissa, and into an open space in the nursery so that there wouldn't be any complications while apparating. All ready to go, and to leave the manor, and his family behind Lucius brought his wand up, not looking back- not wanting to in case, his wife's scared face would make him falter.

Lucius made the familiar wand motion to apparate, and before he did so he heard his wife whisper from where she stud.

"Be careful." That was the last thing he heard before he was pulled from the room.