33. …Draco knows an excellent Anger Management Therapist
"I've got it!" Ron started up from the couch where he and Draco had started in for some
serious thinking. "We could blackmail him!"
Ron turned and grinned at Draco who was smiling wickedly. "You might just have
something there Weasley."
"You guys are going to blackmail me!?" Harry came storming into the common room,
his wrath spilling over once again. Hermione and Ginny trailed in after him.
Ron looked up, startled by the interruption in his thought process. "No, not you! Why
would we blackmail you?"
Harry snarled, "I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" Ron looked puzzled.
"You know, I could get you an appointment with a very excellent anger management
therapist. Did wonders for me." Draco turned around on the couch and stared at Harry
challengingly. Harry just growled at him.
Ron felt he had better jump in before the situation deteriorated any further. "No, no
Draco is going to blackmail his father so that he'll call off the arranged marriage." Draco
turned around and gave Ron a Look.
Harry was not backing down and sneered, "Oh really? You two are getting married?"
This time Ron and Draco shared a Look, the full contents of which could only be read by
the two of them but a large part of which was extreme puzzlement.
"Of course we're not getting MARRIED! Harry, what are you talking about?"
"Ron, I can't believe you lied to us!" Harry was definitely in full steam righteousness
mode now. Ron gaped. Behind Harry he saw Ginny, who hefted a crystal ball
meaningfully. A cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach.
Lucius Malfoy strode down the corridors of his dungeon purposefully, smiling to himself
because, even here, he had managed to wipe out the damned draft. The dungeon was
extensive with a maze of corridors all lit by sputtering torches set in rusty brackets along
the walls that gave off an oily, yellow light. Lucius Malfoy was very conscious about
atmosphere and knew how to provide the right one for any given environment. The
floors of the dungeon were all rough hewn stone with irregular dips and cracks that held
tepid, long standing water laced along the edges with green slime. Yes, just about
perfect.
Finally he reached his destination, a large rusty iron door with a grated window and a
very complex looking lock designed to look like entwined serpents. Lucius passed his
hand over the lock, muttering an incantation and stepped back as the door swung
ominously open. Lucius stepped briskly into the room and took a seat in a chair set by
the door apparently for just such an occasion. Light from the corridor fell into the room
in a bright shaft, illuminating a figure kneeling on the floor, apparently chained to the
wall.
It was a man, of indeterminate years, wearing rags and a long mane of uncut, uncombed
hair along with a scraggly beard. Lucius smiled cruelly as the man slowly raised his
head. "I just remembered the other day that I haven't come down to visit you in over and
year and it was about time I did so." Lucius' voice held a mocking coldness. "I thought
you might like to be updated as to what your dear old brother has been doing recently."
The man on the floor just glared as Lucius continued blithely. "Of course all of the
regular death eater stuff has been proceeding as usual. Harry Potter is still annoyingly
alive but what else is new. The only interesting thing I've been engaged in of late
involves your nephew who has been particularly annoying of late. Draco never really did
learn any respect and so I've decided to teach him a lesson."
A sound came from the seated man, as if he was trying to say something. Finally he
croaked out a few words in a voice rusty from disuse. "Why do you insist on tormenting
him?"
Lucius raised an eyebrow almost up to his hairline. "Surely you just. Don't you
remember the way father treated us? It's the only way to prepare him for manhood and
responsibility. I'm not going to leave the Malfoy fortune to a sop."
The other man wheezed as if he were laughing. "Lucius…you don't change. You're still
a conniving bastard."
Anger blazed in Lucius' eyes, and a hint of amusement. "A conniving bastard, brother,
who managed to oust you from your inheritance." He turned and walked away, cape
billowing out behind him. His voice drifted along the corridor coldly.
"Oh, and I think I'll come visit you later. You can help me plan the wedding." He
chuckled to himself quietly.
Ron, for once in his life, was absolutely speechless. The amazing thing is that Draco was
too.
"You two…" Harry sputtered, "Ron, I can't believe. I just can't! You could have been
caught! You could have gotten…pregnant!"
Ron thought in a small corner of his mind that Harry was sounding amazingly like Mrs.
Weasley, but didn't dare say it. At Harry's ridiculous pronouncement, Draco burst out
laughing.
"Shut up, Potter," Draco said good-humouredly. "This is absolutely not your concern!"
He calmed down a bit. "Seriously."
Ginny and Hermione were silent, arms crossed, wearing identical looks of curiosity.
"Hermione explained that the potion affects the emotions of the people around it," Ron
said, "The whole thing wasn't our fault. And it's over. So forget about it!" Ron felt very
satisfied with his pronouncement, although he wasn't sure if it was one hundred percent
truthful. Draco, grinning broadly, seemed rather glad to have this excuse to work from.
"Anyway," Draco drawled, "Ron and I were discussing something privately." He stood
up, grabbed Ron by the back of his collar, and steered him out the door. "Let's go, Ron."
Ginny giggled. Harry muttered something about Quidditch and stomped up to his room.
Draco covered Ron's eyes with his hand and practically dragged him halfway around the
castle to the Slytherin Common Room. Covering Ron's ears as well, Draco whispered the
password and pushed Ron into the room. Ron looked around. He was in the dungeon-like
Room that he had visited once previously (although Draco seemed to have forgotten this
momentarily) and he didn't like it any better today than he had five years ago. It had a
number of black leather couches, silver engravings running around the top of the room, a
few imposing sets of armor, and a full bar.
"Now," Draco said as he flopped down on one of the couches and conjured a pad of
paper and a quill. "Let's decide how we're going to blackmail my dad."
A few hours later, they had a minimal amount of choices. Ron had flatly refused the idea
that he transform himself back into Blaise and try to get Lucius to say something
incriminating in bed. This was Draco's favorite idea, but he didn't blame Ron for not
liking it.
"What about all those horrible illegal…things you keep in the library?" Ron suggested.
Draco glared at him.
"Excuse me, Weasley, I happen to like those things. The Dark Arts book are very useful,
and so is everything else."
"Whatever," Ron shrugged. "Come on, there's something you're not telling me."
Draco sighed. "Alright, but if I tell you this, you have to swear not to say one word to
Potter and everyone else. Okay?"
"Okay."
"I'm dead serious. SWEAR!"
"OKAY! Get on with it, Malfoy!"
"Okay." Draco looked around furtively, although he knew perfectly well that they were
alone. "Father has kept his brother in our dungeons for the past 25 years. No one knows,
and he'd be taken to Azkaban if anyone found out."
Ron grimaced. "What?!"
"He made it look like Reginald committed suicide and then imprisoned him so he would
inherit the Malfoy fortune." Draco peered at Ron. "I can't believe I just told you that.
Father doesn't know I know, but I was practicing magic in the dungeons when I was four
and saw him. I visit once a week or so when I'm at home."
"Okay…but how are you going to blackmail him?"
"Good question, Weasley. Give me a minute to think."
"I've got it!" Ron started up from the couch where he and Draco had started in for some
serious thinking. "We could blackmail him!"
Ron turned and grinned at Draco who was smiling wickedly. "You might just have
something there Weasley."
"You guys are going to blackmail me!?" Harry came storming into the common room,
his wrath spilling over once again. Hermione and Ginny trailed in after him.
Ron looked up, startled by the interruption in his thought process. "No, not you! Why
would we blackmail you?"
Harry snarled, "I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" Ron looked puzzled.
"You know, I could get you an appointment with a very excellent anger management
therapist. Did wonders for me." Draco turned around on the couch and stared at Harry
challengingly. Harry just growled at him.
Ron felt he had better jump in before the situation deteriorated any further. "No, no
Draco is going to blackmail his father so that he'll call off the arranged marriage." Draco
turned around and gave Ron a Look.
Harry was not backing down and sneered, "Oh really? You two are getting married?"
This time Ron and Draco shared a Look, the full contents of which could only be read by
the two of them but a large part of which was extreme puzzlement.
"Of course we're not getting MARRIED! Harry, what are you talking about?"
"Ron, I can't believe you lied to us!" Harry was definitely in full steam righteousness
mode now. Ron gaped. Behind Harry he saw Ginny, who hefted a crystal ball
meaningfully. A cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach.
Lucius Malfoy strode down the corridors of his dungeon purposefully, smiling to himself
because, even here, he had managed to wipe out the damned draft. The dungeon was
extensive with a maze of corridors all lit by sputtering torches set in rusty brackets along
the walls that gave off an oily, yellow light. Lucius Malfoy was very conscious about
atmosphere and knew how to provide the right one for any given environment. The
floors of the dungeon were all rough hewn stone with irregular dips and cracks that held
tepid, long standing water laced along the edges with green slime. Yes, just about
perfect.
Finally he reached his destination, a large rusty iron door with a grated window and a
very complex looking lock designed to look like entwined serpents. Lucius passed his
hand over the lock, muttering an incantation and stepped back as the door swung
ominously open. Lucius stepped briskly into the room and took a seat in a chair set by
the door apparently for just such an occasion. Light from the corridor fell into the room
in a bright shaft, illuminating a figure kneeling on the floor, apparently chained to the
wall.
It was a man, of indeterminate years, wearing rags and a long mane of uncut, uncombed
hair along with a scraggly beard. Lucius smiled cruelly as the man slowly raised his
head. "I just remembered the other day that I haven't come down to visit you in over and
year and it was about time I did so." Lucius' voice held a mocking coldness. "I thought
you might like to be updated as to what your dear old brother has been doing recently."
The man on the floor just glared as Lucius continued blithely. "Of course all of the
regular death eater stuff has been proceeding as usual. Harry Potter is still annoyingly
alive but what else is new. The only interesting thing I've been engaged in of late
involves your nephew who has been particularly annoying of late. Draco never really did
learn any respect and so I've decided to teach him a lesson."
A sound came from the seated man, as if he was trying to say something. Finally he
croaked out a few words in a voice rusty from disuse. "Why do you insist on tormenting
him?"
Lucius raised an eyebrow almost up to his hairline. "Surely you just. Don't you
remember the way father treated us? It's the only way to prepare him for manhood and
responsibility. I'm not going to leave the Malfoy fortune to a sop."
The other man wheezed as if he were laughing. "Lucius…you don't change. You're still
a conniving bastard."
Anger blazed in Lucius' eyes, and a hint of amusement. "A conniving bastard, brother,
who managed to oust you from your inheritance." He turned and walked away, cape
billowing out behind him. His voice drifted along the corridor coldly.
"Oh, and I think I'll come visit you later. You can help me plan the wedding." He
chuckled to himself quietly.
Ron, for once in his life, was absolutely speechless. The amazing thing is that Draco was
too.
"You two…" Harry sputtered, "Ron, I can't believe. I just can't! You could have been
caught! You could have gotten…pregnant!"
Ron thought in a small corner of his mind that Harry was sounding amazingly like Mrs.
Weasley, but didn't dare say it. At Harry's ridiculous pronouncement, Draco burst out
laughing.
"Shut up, Potter," Draco said good-humouredly. "This is absolutely not your concern!"
He calmed down a bit. "Seriously."
Ginny and Hermione were silent, arms crossed, wearing identical looks of curiosity.
"Hermione explained that the potion affects the emotions of the people around it," Ron
said, "The whole thing wasn't our fault. And it's over. So forget about it!" Ron felt very
satisfied with his pronouncement, although he wasn't sure if it was one hundred percent
truthful. Draco, grinning broadly, seemed rather glad to have this excuse to work from.
"Anyway," Draco drawled, "Ron and I were discussing something privately." He stood
up, grabbed Ron by the back of his collar, and steered him out the door. "Let's go, Ron."
Ginny giggled. Harry muttered something about Quidditch and stomped up to his room.
Draco covered Ron's eyes with his hand and practically dragged him halfway around the
castle to the Slytherin Common Room. Covering Ron's ears as well, Draco whispered the
password and pushed Ron into the room. Ron looked around. He was in the dungeon-like
Room that he had visited once previously (although Draco seemed to have forgotten this
momentarily) and he didn't like it any better today than he had five years ago. It had a
number of black leather couches, silver engravings running around the top of the room, a
few imposing sets of armor, and a full bar.
"Now," Draco said as he flopped down on one of the couches and conjured a pad of
paper and a quill. "Let's decide how we're going to blackmail my dad."
A few hours later, they had a minimal amount of choices. Ron had flatly refused the idea
that he transform himself back into Blaise and try to get Lucius to say something
incriminating in bed. This was Draco's favorite idea, but he didn't blame Ron for not
liking it.
"What about all those horrible illegal…things you keep in the library?" Ron suggested.
Draco glared at him.
"Excuse me, Weasley, I happen to like those things. The Dark Arts book are very useful,
and so is everything else."
"Whatever," Ron shrugged. "Come on, there's something you're not telling me."
Draco sighed. "Alright, but if I tell you this, you have to swear not to say one word to
Potter and everyone else. Okay?"
"Okay."
"I'm dead serious. SWEAR!"
"OKAY! Get on with it, Malfoy!"
"Okay." Draco looked around furtively, although he knew perfectly well that they were
alone. "Father has kept his brother in our dungeons for the past 25 years. No one knows,
and he'd be taken to Azkaban if anyone found out."
Ron grimaced. "What?!"
"He made it look like Reginald committed suicide and then imprisoned him so he would
inherit the Malfoy fortune." Draco peered at Ron. "I can't believe I just told you that.
Father doesn't know I know, but I was practicing magic in the dungeons when I was four
and saw him. I visit once a week or so when I'm at home."
"Okay…but how are you going to blackmail him?"
"Good question, Weasley. Give me a minute to think."