Chapter 6
trust \Trust\, n. [OE. trust, trost, Icel. traust confidence, security; akin to Dan. & Sw. tr["o]st comfort, consolation, G. trost, Goth. trausti a convention, covenant, and E. true. See True, and cf. Tryst.] 1. Assured resting of the mind on the integrity, veracity, justice, friendship, or other sound principle, of another person; confidence; reliance; reliance. "O ever-failing trust in mortal strength!" --Milton.
Most take things upon trust. --Locke.
2. Credit given; especially, delivery of property or merchandise in reliance upon future payment; exchange without immediate receipt of an equivalent; as, to sell or buy goods on trust.
3. Assured anticipation; dependence upon something future or contingent, as if present or actual; hope; belief. "Such trust have we through Christ." --2 Cor. iii. 4.
His trust was with the Eternal to be deemed Equal in strength. --Milton.
4. That which is committed or entrusted to one; something received in confidence; charge; deposit.
5. The condition or obligation of one to whom anything is confided; responsible charge or office.
[I] serve him truly that will put me in trust. --Shak.
Reward them well, if they observe their trust. --Denham.
6. That upon which confidence is reposed; ground of reliance; hope.
O Lord God, thou art my trust from my youth. --Ps. lxxi. 5.
7. (Law) An estate devised or granted in confidence that the devisee or grantee shall convey it, or dispose of the profits, at the will, or for the benefit, of another; an estate held for the use of another; a confidence respecting property reposed in one person, who is termed the trustee, for the benefit of another, who is called the cestui que trust.
8. An organization formed mainly for the purpose of regulating the supply and price of commodities, etc.; as, a sugar trust. [Cant]
Syn: Confidence; belief; faith; hope; expectation.
In the morning, Rebecca stretched awake, relishing the feeling of being alive. Then the events of the night before flooded back through her mind. She had come home to find Gabby in her bed, still looking frightened in her sleep. Regretfully, she had cast an obliviate spell over the girl.
Then she had gone to her own bed, but sleep for her had been a long time coming. she had lain awake, pondering how she would break the news to Lily. She knew she could not tell James. He, of course, would never believe her, and would only drag her name down into infamy, have her labelled a Death Eater.
Now, as she prepared breakfast for herself, the full weight of what she would be doing that day settled on her. She would be placing her life, and Severus's on the line to save the life of a woman she had only become friends with, her godson, and a man who would gladly see her and her fiancé dead. She sighed heavily and sat down to eat.
A sudden knock on the door startled her out of her wits. She moved to open it, but it swung open before she reached it, and a hooded figure stepped into the room. Rebecca gasped, but the figure waved it's hand dismissively. It was a gesture she knew very well.
"Lucius!" she exclaimed, almost fainting with relief.
"Is anyone else here?" he asked softly.
She shook her head. "Only my flatmate, but she's dead asleep."
"Where is she?"
Rebecca waved her hand in the general direction of Gabby's room. Lucius pulled out his wand and called in her direction, "Somnus." Lowering his wand, he added, "that should keep her asleep."
"Why are you here?" asked Rebecca. "I thought Voldemort basically wanted my head on a platter." She motioned him into a chair and resumed eating her breakfast. "I hope you don't mind. I haven't eaten yet."
Lucius pushed his hood back and shook his head. "The Dark lord is extremely angry with you for disputing his power. He does not, however, consider you a serious threat."
Pausing with a forkful of food halfway to her mouth, Rebecca murmured "but aren't you supposed to kill me on sight, or something?"
Lucius smiled, a thin, weak smile, and said, "You are my cousin and my friend. I will never betray you."
Rebecca set down her fork. "Don't promise me that. It could mean your life someday. What would Narcissa think of you dying for another woman?"
With a small laugh, Lucius told her "I don't think she would care, provided I left her a legacy." After a moment of pensive silence, he added, "I'm not even sure anymore why I married her."
"Because you wanted an heir."
The matter of fact tone with which his cousin's made this statement caused Lucius's head to shoot up. She had seen what he had never told anyone. "I suppose you're right. I needed someone to carry on the name Malfoy. So I married a rich pure-blood. And I'm not unhappy. Ours was a marriage of convenience more than love, but it isn't all bad. I'm not sure I even believe in love anymore. I'm not sure I ever did."
"But when you look at people like the Potters-" Rebecca began.
"When I look at the Potters, I feel disgust," he spat. "they have never had a real problem in their whole lives. They never had oppressive fathers, bringing them up to hate mudbloods; they didn't have my Aunt Celeste, appearing out of nowhere with her daughter in tow, expecting their family to take care of her because her foul muggle husband had run out on her; they didn't have the pressure to uphold the family name, to be model Slytherins. . ." his voice trailed off.
Rebecca added quietly, "they also had each other to help them through the problems they did have, no matter how small. Everyone needs someone to care about them."
He studied her face. "Everyone's problems seem bigger to themselves than to anyone else's."
She nodded and reached for his hand. "You'll pull through, Lucius. You always do. And I'll do whatever I can to help. . .short of murder."
Squeezing her hand, he muttered, "you'll only kill for Severus, hmm?"
She smiled back. "And don't you forget it, either. Stay on his good side."
A faint grin lifted the corners of his mouth. "You were a fool to fly off the handle the other day. You could have been a great asset to us."
"Us?"
With a heavy sigh, Lucius stood and began to pace. "Yes, 'us.' Myself, Igor Karkaroff, and a few others. We feel that the Dark Lord is gaining power but is withholding it from his faithful Death Eaters."
Rebecca's mind reeled. She would have to tell Severus this. "What are you going to do?" she asked.
He shrugged. "We don't know. We don't want to upset the Lord's power, you understand, only get a bit of if for ourselves."
Oh, she thought. They're only talk. Stupid, blind fools. Can't they see that Voldemort cares nothing for them? But she kept her mouth shut.
Suddenly Lucius turned to her. "Swear," he demanded, "on all that's holy to you, that you will never breathe a word of this to anyone."
There go all my plans to tell Severus, she thought wryly as she murmured, "I swear." With a sigh, she banished her uneaten breakfast to the kitchen and added, "unless the life of someone I love is endangered by my keeping your secret." This was the same oath she had given Voldemort over a year ago when Severus had first dragged her to a Dark gathering.
Lucius obviously realized this, but as he had no choice, save to cast a memory charm over her, he nodded, and held out his hand. She shook it, and her hand tingled from the magical bond they had just sealed.
"Why did you come here, in broad daylight, of all times?" she asked gently.
He shook his head. "I'm not sure. It's like you said, everyone needs someone to help them through, to be there for them. You've always been there for me. Even when I was so horrid to you at Hogwarts. It's too bad we're already related. You'd be more fun than Narcissa," he joked
"I'm only a half-blood," she joked back.
He cursed. "But you're related to one of the most powerful wizarding families in Europe! I should have stood up for you at school-"
"But you didn't. You were ashamed of our blood tie. I don't blame you," she hurried on, preventing him from protesting, "and I managed to find my true friends. Severus, Remus, you, and maybe even Sirius."
Lucius blinked. "Sirius Black?" he gasped.
"Do you know any other Sirius?"
"I thought you two hated each other!" he exclaimed, aghast.
"We did. But we've, er, reconciled our differences," she told him tactfully, avoiding again any mention of the wedding.
Lucius glared at the tabletop. "Even you, my only confidant, don't understand what it is to have no friend in the world."
"No," she said softly. "And neither do you."
"My friends are all Death Eaters," he spat. "They can help me in my quest for power, but they care nothing for me. Nothing."
Rebecca ran her hands over the tabletop. "I was talking about me, Lucius. I'm your friend, even if you don't want me. You can't get rid of me."
He smiled then, a genuine smile. "I'd better go." Pulling his hood up, he moved to where she sat and lightly kissed her cheek. Then he murmured "finite incantatum," pointing his wand at Gabby's room again, and dissapperated.
Rebecca sat, staring at the spot where her cousin had stood, until, yawning and stretching, Gabby emerged from her room.
A/N: I have mentioned how much I like Lucius Malfoy haven't I? Sorry to those of you who can't stand him.
