A.N. Wow hello everyone. This chapter needed to happen for the narrative I've been writing but it fought me for so long. Lucius is such an interesting and complicated character and I honestly don't know how well I pulled him off, but I did my best. I hit a pretty deep writer's slump this summer and you all helped me to get through it so thank you so much for reading and commenting and reminding me that this story is more than just me yelling into the void. I hope you enjoy!
Lucius had never been a fan of Gringotts. It had always been a dreadful experience when he went with his father. But then again, Abraxas Malfoy was not known for his pleasantness or charisma even towards other wizards. Pity mixed with hatred as Lucius marched past the dozens of goblins updating their record books. Hermione Granger and her…sentiments had played far too much in his mind and he pushed the thoughts of pity away. Goblins had earned their place as servants of their betters. They do not deserve wands or magic in the way wizards and witches do.
Lucius seated himself on the marble bench nearest to the wall where he could watch the entrance. Forcing his chest out and his shoulders tall, he placed an intentional scowl on his face in the way he'd been trained to. Most fathers trained their sons to be approachable, however Lucius had been taught from a young age that he was above all that. "No one should ever feel they can approach a Malfoy unsolicited." Those had been his father's words on his first trip to Gringotts when he'd been just a boy.
People watching never did particularly intrigue Lucius in the way it did his father. He found no joy in watching a haggard old woman dressed in worn robes drag her screaming child who wanted a new broom. Nor did he find joy in a young brunette woman and tall blonde man who seemed to be expecting a child. The woman clutched her pregnant belly as they toddled behind a short goblin with long eyebrows and a bulbous nose. But one person in the bank did bring him joy.
"Rabastan." Lucius's lips curled into a fake smile that was as cold as it was anticipatory. The taller man's dark features were left even more sallow and sunken then normal. Lucius had been a bit crueler than he'd needed to be, ensuring that both the Lestranges would be nursing a sickness this morning. Pepper-up potion would cure the symptoms, but he'd still look awful.
"Lucius, I don't know how you got me to agree to this, but I'm a man of my word. Plus I feel somewhat bad for my brother taking all of your money." There was a coy, jovial nature to Rabastan's tone, but it covered up his annoyance at the situation. Rodolphus was always a bit of a sore subject for the elder Lestrange.
"It was meant to be a friendly bet Rab. Don't get too worried about it. Perhaps we'll get you a little trinket for that Zabini girl anyway, find her something to match her…delicate persona." Lucius smiled in all the right ways and made Rabastan feel as if they were co-conspirators in some grand scheme.
"Your father approved this?" Rabastan hit back, hesitance and mistrust in his voice at the kindness of the Malfoy.
"Oh of course not, but I have to deposit some items anyway and the old man would never notice a thing missing." It was true, Abraxas had nearly given over all vault control to Lucius when he'd graduated Hogwarts. His father hadn't set a foot in Gringotts in years. Not to mention Rabastan would be much more willing to be drawn in by the blonde wizard's fake benevolence and friendship if he felt like they both had something to lose.
They both approached the head goblin, who immediately met Lucius' cold scowl with a matching one of his own. Looking now into the engorged yellow eyes of the creature in front of him, Lucius wondered how Hermione Granger had ever come to consider them her equal. Shaking any thought of his secret alliance away, he produced the key to his family's vault from a hidden pocket inside the top right folds of his robes. The green satin fabric of this inner lining made it so that the pocket was not visible except to those who knew it was there.
The key itself was made of pure silver, decorated delicately with a fleur de lis that made up the hand hold. It was a thousand years old, and yet looked as if it'd been made the day before. Centuries of Malfoys had been charged with its care, and for a moment Lucius was haunted by the fact that what he was about to do would break a thousand years of tradition. But it didn't matter to him, all that mattered was his son…was this mission.
After a moment of inspection and another derisive look, the goblin, who's name plate read Logarg, looked towards the Lestrange. Rabastan reached into the front pocket of his robes and clumsily pulled out a key that was both much newer than Lucius' and also less taken care of. A flake of rust peeled off the key as the goblin turned it over in his lithe hands before gesturing for both the men to follow him.
The passages of Gringotts always felt cold and cramped to Lucius, and he grimaced as they made their way past the gate that blocked the lobby from the vaults. The rickety mine cart mechanism clanked as it pulled forward to meet them on the platform. If there was one thing that Lucius hated even more than interacting with goblins, it was this godforsaken system of transportation.
"We'll stop at my family's vault first." Lucius informed both Rabastan and the goblin, ignoring the glare being sent his way by the disgruntled creature. He wanted this experience to end as quickly as possible. Not that he'd ever tell anyone, but he was quite easily motion sick.
The worst part of the ride towards vault 219 was that it went straight down. After dropping for the better part of ten seconds, the cart jolted itself to the right, skidding along the tracks with sparks flying next to where the wheels barely held on. As a whole, the experience was maybe twenty seconds, and yet Lucius' knuckles grabbed onto the rail so tightly that his already pale skin seemed nearly translucent.
Never one to allow people to see his weaknesses, Lucius cleared his throat, stepping off the blasted cart without a second thought. Each step was focused as he avoided allowing the terror of his journey to come across on his face. "I don't have all day goblin." He demanded in his best tone of condescension. It was well-practiced and chilling, earning him a derisive glare from the goblin as he sneered at Lucius and pulled the lantern off the cart and led the way forward.
The hallways of Gringotts always seemed to be dripping with some sort of wet, but that was never what caught Lucius's eye on this journey. One of his ancestors back at the foundation of the bank itself had insisted on the Malfoy vault being grander than all the others. The steel and magically reinforced doors weren't good enough for the oldest continuous wizarding family in Britain.
No, the Malfoys had to have the best.
The silver door was nearly glowing as they approached it, the tall arches wrapped in delicately carved snake motifs. His house words greeted him as they approached, etched into the top of the arch, separating the snakes. Leaves and roses carved into the rest of the door held emeralds and sapphires that also glinted in the light.
Lucius chuckled at the sight of it, always thinking that thieves wouldn't even need to get inside the vault to become disgustingly wealthy from their hoard. Although a crooked, insincere smile replaced his tightly downturned lips at the thought that today he was to be the thief.
The Lestrange man's eyes opened wide at the sight of the display. Lucius understood, he'd felt the same as a young boy seeing it for the first time; the overwhelming richness of their legacy, of their family hitting them in the face.
"We're one of the oldest members of this bank. My great-great grandfather had it moved down here of course, we needed more room." Without looking at the creature, Lucius held his right arm out, dangling the key from his hand. He continued to stare directly ahead as the goblin grumbled and approached the door.
There was seemingly no way to unlock the door to the untrained eye, but there were hidden indentations where the goblin had to insert both Lucius's key and the banks. The keyholes were disguised as the center pieces of two roses, and they both let out a gentle clicking noise as the little creature turned the key. Goblins were not permitted to enter vaults while the witches and wizards inside. Not after the last Goblin War.
Heat escaped from the door as it swung open from the center, owing to the lamps that were left lit at all times so the room contained none of the dank, cold, wetness of the rest of the bank. The first room they all walked into was a parlor area, containing a grand desk for business as well as two leather lounge chairs that flanked a globe bar.
"Firewhiskey?" Lucius offered saccharinely as he watched Rabastan eye the bar.
"It's 9 am." Rabastan sent back, but that wasn't a no, and Lucius was already conjuring two glasses and pulling out one of the bottles from the now open centerpiece.
"I have to file these papers for my father, please enjoy a drink while I conduct my business." Lucius turned away from the other man. The goblin knew his place and had stayed outside. The business his father had wanted him to complete was to deposit profit statements from their investments. Abraxas may not be the most enjoyable man, but he knew how to make money and how to make money make more money. The bottom left drawer of the desk was reserved for business papers, charmed with an undetectable extension charm that the ministry would surely have something to say about.
Lucius's long fingers filtered through all of the dark and dirty business that was held within this secret filing system. All of their…less savory dealings, downright illegal acts, even some smuggling records from back in the 20s. Finally, he found the folder he'd been looking for. The Malfoys had acquired a new patent, having strong-armed Damocles Belby into allowing them to be the exclusive manufacturer of his innovative new potion. It was profitable to say the least, but Lucius felt a sneer creep across his face at the thought that they were expanding their portfolio into werewolf medicine.
Lupin's scarred face caught in Lucius's mind for a moment, and he shuttered as he shook it away. Sympathy for that bleeding heart Gryffindor was not part of his plan. When he was done with the patent file, he closed the drawer quietly, standing and straightening his collar as he strode back towards the main area. Rabastan was sipping at his firewhiskey, looking around himself in wonder at the literal piles of gold that lined the walls of the Malfoy family vault.
"Rabastan, lets pick out something Elora will love eh?" Lucius once again painted his sickly sweet smile, similar to that of a cobra waiting to strike. Rabastan, of course, was too enamored by the glittering light around him to even notice. He ran off towards a collection of necklaces that had once belonged to Lucius's great-grandmother. She was a witch in every sense of the word. Back when he was younger, she used to shout at him for running around or playing, things typical of children but in her eyes uncouth for the scion of the house of Malfoy.
"Grandmother Audrina would be pleased that her jewelry is being admired so closely." Lucius lied. It was untrue in every sense. Audrina had never even allowed her daughter or her daughter-in-laws to ever wear her jewels. They came as a part of her marriage contract to Kistrius Malfoy who had quite the reputation for affairs. The rumor was that every time he found his comforts outside of her bed, he would buy her a bright and shiny new jewel. If the size of the collection was any indication, he was quite the popular man.
Rabastan looked closely at all the opals and emeralds and diamonds, oohing and aahing at their shine. Finally Lucius began to lose his patience, picking up a choker necklace that looked like a chain made of rubies and diamonds. He imagined that when worn, it would look as if the wearer's throat had been slit and they bled red gemstones rather than blood. Lucius kept his smirk to himself as he thought how fitting that would be for the black widow of Britain.
"May I recommend this?" Lucius smiled towards his pawn, holding out the box holding the necklace to him like an offering of peace. Rabastan's eyes opened wide at the sight of it.
"Are you certain Lucius? Abraxas will…"
"Abraxas will never know. He hasn't made a visit to Gringotts since I graduated Hogwarts. Besides, it is only fair that we complete and equivalent exchange. That way we each get something and have something to lose." Lucius felt a small victory as the other wizard nodded his head. It was almost too easy to convince Rabastan of their conspiracy. But Lestrange had no way of telling just how badly he would lose in this situation.
"Shall we journey to your vault now? You have your prize, so now is the time for mine."
Hermione had shown Lucius what the cup looked like in her memories. Gold with two handles adorning each side, crowning an embossed badger with onyx gemstones for eyes and a spattering of other jewels. It was hideous in Lucius's opinion, his tastes much less…gregarious than Helga Hufflepuff's must have been. Walking into the Lestrange vault, the first thing he noticed was the disorganization of it all. It wasn't really surprise he felt, after all Rastrobir Lestrange was known to enjoy his firewhiskey far more than his filing. Distaste nipped at his features, but he did his best to tuck it away, disguising it as intrigue as he made his way through the walking path that wove in between mountains of assorted galleons, treasures, and papers.
There was a fireplace in the center that crackled and popped, providing a stifling heat to this round room of concrete and stone. Lucius's brow began to sweat, but he wiped it away with the handkerchief in his pocket.
It was about halfway through his stroll around the room that it caught his eye. The firelight licked off the curves, catching the onyx eyes of the badger as it moved. "Rabastan, I fancy that goblet. I've been looking for something similar for my finest firewhiskeys and elf wines. I think I've chosen my prize."
Before Lucius reached his hand out to grab it, Rabastan put a firm grip on his shoulder. "I don't know about that one Malfoy." Nervousness snuck behind the careful sneer of the public persona of the Lestrange family.
Swallowing the fury in his throat from the closeness of the evil he was sent to obtain, Lucius carefully placed an out of place hair behind his ear. "Oh what harm could come from a little cup like that. I won't even put it on public display. It will be in my study for my personal firewhiskey supply."
Lucius's casual smile was calculated. It was just jovial enough to ease Lestrange into a worrysome state. Based on the lack of sweat on his brow, he didn't know the importance of the item Lucius chose, simply a nervousness at the possibility of repercussions.
Rabastan began to wring his hands frantically, so Lucius placed a careful, lithe hand on his shoulder, clapping his back slightly harder than probably necessary. "I never knew the Lestranges to withdraw from a gentleman's agreement."
It was the swipe at his family's honor that sparked an anger in the man Lucius needed.
"Take the stupid cup then you arse. Question my family's honor. Next thing you'll be accusing me of cavorting with mudbloods." Lucius laughed in unison with the Lestrange but his heart rate did quicken slightly. He was cavorting with mudbloods. Hermione Granger was the puppeteer pulling the strings behind his every move.
His stomach twisted with disgust as he realized just how far in he was now. Swallowing the bile that rose in his throat, he considered the poor set of circumstances that indebted him first to a megalomaniac hell bent on destruction of the world and secondly to witch of lesser blood who proved every day to be more capable and intelligent than generations of purebloods.
Conflicted feelings swirled in Lucius's mind as he returned to the stone mantle-place, finding the edges of the handles of the cup and enclosing his fingers around them. Instantly dark magic ran through his body, sending a chill so deeply into his spine that it seemed as if his bones might break. Pressure built up against the walls he'd been building since he was young. A force broke past his protections, leaving his mind open to whoever (or whatever) was inside.
"Lucius…" The pressure inside his head whispered, leaving the blonde wizard knowingly haunted.
"Lucius?" Rabastan called, his voice echoing against the void that had been left by the pressure of the cup. Icy blue eyes steadied slowly on the other man calling out to him.
"I've ummm….I've just remembered an urgent appointment I must see to. Also I'd say I'm sorry about this Rab, but I will never apologize for doing what's necessary." Lucius raised his wand, the snake handle turning deftly as he performed the memory charm. The Dark Lord knew. He knew Lucius had taken the cup. Rabastan could have no memory of what had happened when Lucius had grabbed the cup.
Memory magic was so difficult and Lucius was out of practice, so it took quite some time to pretend Lucius took some shiny necklace that he shoved in his pocket.
The still disoriented Rabastan blinked rapidly as the memory charm set in.
"Like I said Rabastan, feel free to stay if you have any business to do, but Narcissa has some social appointment I forgot about. You know how witches are." Lucius did his best to keep himself upright as panic filled his veins. Before Rabastan could even respond, the blonde wizard was storming towards the open vault door.
"Where is that useless goblin?" Lucius swore, searching desperately for the small creature that had brought them down. Grumbling, the lantern light began growing closer as the goblin waddled towards the cart that sat dormant in front of them.
"Done early?" The goblin gritted out, something in his sinister smile sending blood rushing in Lucius's veins.
"My business is my own goblin!" Lucius painted his shaking voice with centuries of entitlement and influence, earning nothing from the goblin as he slowly prepared the cart.
The ride back up to Gringotts' main floor didn't even faze Lucius as his heartbeat in his ears. He needed to get to the Manor, needed to warn Narcissa. The Dark Lord knew.
Lucius used one of the floos in the bank, adding a quick spell to the floo enchantment to close the wards behind him. No one except for those who were Malfoy by blood or marriage could get through.
"Narcissa! NARCISSA!" Panic filled Lucius as the manor remained void of sound all around him. "Narcissa!" He screamed as he ran, searching desperately in all the places she'd normally be. All his decorum and manners that he'd been raised with fled his body. "Narcissa!"
Rounding the corner towards where their son's nursery was, he shoved the door open to find Narcissa rocking Draco quietly. She held a hand up to her lips, a silencing charm that she had cast preventing her from hearing his cries.
"Lucius you look as if you've…." He cut her off, wrapping his arms around her and their son and kissing her passionately.
"I can't explain but we have to go. We have to go now. Pack what you need and then meet me in the study. I will get what I can from our room and my study."
"Lucius what's going on?" Narcissa Malfoy had been courting or married to Lucius Malfoy for nearly 8 years and she'd never once seen him like this.
"I will explain when we are safe. Just…please." Lucius Malfoy did not say please. He had been raised to believe he'd never need to.
Wordlessly, Narcissa nodded her head, tucking her sleeping baby boy in his crib. Her wand slipped out from a hidden pocket in her sleeve, and she began to summon bags, toys, nappies, everything they might need.
When Lucius was assured that she was listening, he ran next door to their master bedroom. Frantically, he cast as good an undetectable extension charm on both of their Hogwarts trunks that had sat in their closets for holidays in France. The irony of the fact that Hermione Granger had taught him that spell did not escape his notice as all of his and his wife's items flew from their places and fell into place in the bags.
He'd normally have the elves do grunt work like this, but he couldn't risk anyone knowing where he was going.
It took 10 minutes between the bedroom and the study to collect everything he needed. The cup remained in his breast pocket, weighing him down as he paced the floor while he waited for Narcissa. Moments later the door opened, Narcissa hovering a bag behind her while cradling a now fussing Draco in her arms.
"It'll be a tight fit, but we'll floo together." Narcissa nodded once again, stepping into the fireplace in his study. Lucius followed behind her, shrinking all of their luggage until it fit in the pockets of his robes. Grabbing a handful of green powder, he made his destination very clear.
"Dumbledore Cottage, Godric's Hollow."
Green flames consumed them as the home Lucius had known all his life faded around them.