The night was dark and full of stars, save for the western sky. Shinning ominously like a fired spell the falling comet was reigning there, embezzling all the light and glamour of faraway suns.
Many stairs they descended, more gargoyles they had passed. The outer wall of the castle left behind, they followed a stony road down to the shore of pitch black sea. The light of hundreds torches flickered beneath and more than hundred ships lied at anchor. Soon they parted their ways, with a nod the Lord rid himself of all his guards. When only three of them were left, he turned off the path and climbed a small slope to get to a rocky site. The wizard could not manage even that much, he was half-dragged, half-carried there by yet another captor. This one was surprisingly the most physically identical to him, if one remembered times when Draco Malfoy was not this bold and gaunt bum, but rather a pampered son of an inordinately rich and properly inbred family. With hair of gold and silver and grey-green eyes it was uncanny how much of family resemblance the man displayed, Draco was certain he had seen his type before in the hall of portraits in the Manor. Clad in black and green he might have passed for a Slytherin alumnus with extra rogue in him. Very tall and broad of shoulders, his gait half sway, half saunter, he carried him as if he were a heavy sack of hay.
As Draco had suspected they brought him to the edge of cliff.
The lord, who made their supposed kinship known, stepped forward and stood beside him facing the comet as if consulting with the cosmic object. The gust of wind fanned his lustrous hair as he watched the sky. When he looked down on him, his purple-black eyes were cold.
"Where did you get this?" The dark ring shined in an open palm. Draco reached out for it instinctively. The palm closed and the man hid his hand behind his back.
"My father entrusted it to me. Give it back, you have no rights to it!" the wizard tried to summon the ring in vain.
"My lord," the lord enunciated. "Next time you will be more careful when you address a lord. As for the rights, the ring is now at the hands of its rightful heir. Thank you for your watch."
"It's mine. You can't have it. If you put it on, you'll die!" The ring was charmed that way, the enchantment was not fast but lethal. The Malfoy heirloom was not to be owned by anyone but by a person who has a drop of Malfoy magic. Draco knew he was the only one, however it puzzled him why the Red witch was still breathing.
"Oh, would you like to try?" Both men laughed. "You are too weak to stand, boy, but still have some fight left in you. I can respect that, but I warned you not forget your courtesies."
The lord kicked his knees. If not for his reflexes Draco would have fallen into the black abyss behind him, instead he fell forward. Sharp stones cut his hands, his blood was black at starlight.
"How curious. I know our father was a liar. But to rob his eldest son, trueborn at that, of his possession is a new low," the lord was observing the ring again. "'The Seasnake's ring is lost' he told me, 'no one has carried it for a hundred years. At Tumbleton when the dragons danced and Addam perished, the ring was gone with it,' he said. But my maester told a different story, it was Alyn who owned it last, but this time it was the sea that claimed both his life and ringlet. War or sea, it makes no matter, now the ring is back. A pity that father tried to hide it. Did he try to legitimize you, too?"
"W-what?" Draco Malfoy had always been a Malfoy, bone and blood and soul.
"Are you from Hull?" he asked instead, his cold eyes scrutinized every inch of Draco's face.
"Doubtful, I've never seen his face before," the younger of two men replied, as he kicked a stone.
"No? Are you sure he is not your mother's son?"
"We leave my mother alone." The man in Slytherin colours hissed. "And if he were, I would've surely known."
"I am sorry, Aurane, I was not kind. It is just you look very much alike."
"That's very rich coming from you," the younger sibling snorted.
"Well, we are all here our father's sons," the lord stated.
"I'm not." The wizard whispered, but the wind carried his words for everyone to hear. The two very similarly looking men stared at him. Deep lines stretched between their brows, and smirks appeared on their lips. Wait? You kidding?! You can't believe it!
"Unfortunately, you are." Aurane clasped his shoulder.
"And now you tell about your mother?"
"My mother?" Draco did not want to think about his mother, not here, not in front of these men. Unbidden tears welled his eyes, he hid his face. She is well, she's home in her garden. He gasped for air and stopped breathing. If you think that I'm your brother, then so be it. The patriarch is dead, you have no one to question, no one to confirm or to deny, no one, but me. I'll play the part and when I take the hold of magic, I'll run.
He raised his chin. "I don't remember."
"Oh, the memory loss. You may drop your mask. No harm will come to you. We are family, aren't we?"
"I don't know."
"Do you? What is our father's name?" The voice had the note of irritation now.
Fk! Why do you have to ask that?
"Don't remember."
"Of course, you don't. Then how do you still have memories about the ring, mm? Now, the name."
"I-I don't know, I always called him father."
"Don't be ridiculous, Draco. Don't make us acquire certain notions."
"It's true. I don't know!" Draco said in the earnest voice, he was not even lying.
"Well, you must remember how other people greeted him?"
"My mother always called him my lord or dear."
"Is that all?"
"Yes."
The man pulled his ear, he might have pulled his hair, too, but the boy was bold. The lord made him stand.
"Now you will tell the truth or you will fly."
When he felt his left leg was touching air, he bounced at man and almost toppled him down.
"No man is as accursed as the kinslayer!" he cried something fierce. He did not know where it came from.
"Kinslayer, you say! You, the one who lost all memories of his family and deny his brothers, I see it now, for you we all are as good as dead. All you care for is some jewelry."
"It's not like I wanted to forget! And if you care less about the ring, give it back!" Draco called his sanctimony out.
"I will, if you tell me your parents' name. And if you ask me nicely."
That was a deal and Slytherins loved nothing more than bargain. His ring was at a stake, the only part of his past remained, the last piece of ancestral magic, his possible escape. However he did not know the correct answer. The risk was high, but the reward was greater, he thought and with last scraps of his magic he tried to enter the Lord Velaryon's mind. Just like he had expected the man was thinking of his own father, a blurry image of silver haired man with lilac eyes and a sour smile. The wizard could not go further than that, try it as he might, he could only feel bits of his current thoughts. Suddenly the name was uttered, the young lord's own voice, Draco realized, it sounded as a faraway echo, a whisper of the leaves, a gentle breeze. Luce…it said. But att that very moment the boy was hurled back. The world was spinning for a minute, he was still leaning on the man. With effort he created distance. Is that luck or evil joke? he thought and said:
"My lord, would you be so kind to return my ring? It has so much value, the last reminder of my mother Narcissa and my sire L-lucius."
"Lucius?" Aurane sounded baffled.
Is he not? Don't say his name is Lucian or Lusio? Fk I should've said just Luke.
"Are you sure his name was Lucius?" the lord Velaryon asked.
"I don't know. That's how my mother always called him."
"I see. Narcissa, you say? That's an unusual name. Is she of small folk?"
"No," the boy's lips opened. He could not hold his tongue, he flinched when the understanding came a second later.
"How curious. The daughter of which house?"
"I don't know. They never told. Not even about father's family. I had no idea he had one. I only knew he was a wealthy man."
"And your mother?"
"Not so much. She was from the branch of ancient family, she said, but very much impoverished. When my father came for her, he paid."
"Who could've doubted," the younger brother huffed.
"Aurane," the lord looked pointedly at his sibling. "Again we play the game of 'names'? I run out of patience, little brother. Why are so stubborn? Spill the name."
"I was not told. She never mentioned. All of them are dead is all I know. It hurt her to talk about them, I never dared! And now you owe me ring, my lord!"
"Whoever your mother was, she did a poor job of teaching you some manners. Are you sure she was not a whore?"
Draco prepared to strike, when a slap came. He was on the ground again. His face received the blow, but it was his heart that hurt.
"You filthy mudblood! I kill you with my own hands. Don't you ever dare to call her that!"
"What kind of bigotry is that?" the lord laughed. "Comes out of mouth of a baseborn seed of a dubious breed."
The wizard boy did not fully understand what happened next. But when he raised his hands the magic stirred on his fingertips, white and prime and beautiful, it hissed and wanted the release. The wizard charged at the man in front of him. Stunned he watched as the man flew over his brother and hit the rocks. Draco was about to run wherever his feet would take him, but before he could react, he went into sudden free fall.