Disclaimer: See first chapter!
Author's note: It seems that my fic became an AU, still I'm not going to change anything and this will be still Year 5.
Enjoy your reading and leave a review!
Chapter 5: Hogwarts
The group walked to the Great Hall of the manor after closing the owlery's door with a charm. Lucius reached for a little golden bell, which was on top of the shelves above the portrait of Marcia Malfoy, Caesar's grandmother. The platinum young witch tapped her left foot on seeing the guests' appearances; they fixed and adjusted their robes to please the woman, who nodded in approval.
With a ring from the bell, one small house elf appeared in front of the group, bowing, "Bobby is at your disposal, sir."
"I need my luggage, now," the Prince let his royalty shine, refreshing his friends as to why he was called Prince in the first place. The superiority of Lucius's stance and the air of indifference that surrounded him talked by themselves.
The servant started to tremble under his master's glance, "I is very sorry to tell you, Master Lucius, Sir. I, we don't finished packing, sir. We are so very sorry, Master, Sir." The elf began to hit his head on the floor.
"Stop that babbling this instant. Go and fetch my things now. You have had enough time. Keep your punishment for another moment."
The elf disappeared with a loud pop and reappeared seconds later with four companions and five trunks. Severus and Angelus looked at them in astonishment, while Lucius reduced them with a flick of his wand.
"I hope for your own good, that you have packed everything I will need," the Malfoy master's cold voice made his servants shiver in fear. "You can go now."
After the elves' disappearance, Lucius continued, turning to his friends, "Let's get going, shall we? I believe that our dear Headmaster will be waiting for us."
The group made their way through the gardens of the manor to reach the apparition's limits, where they apparated to Hogsmeade. A horseless carriage was waiting for them a few meters away from 'The Three Broomsticks'.
The sky was starting to cloud and began to drizzle. The group hugged themselves with their cloaks tightly, after placing a drying charm on the carriage. They were just in time to see the first lightning strike upon reaching the front gates of Hogwarts.
The group descended from their horseless transport and walked graciously to the refuge of the doors. Taking off the charm, they had intended to walk to the Headmaster's office, but halfway to their destination, they encountered Professor McGonagall. Though she was shocked with Lestrange's presence, Minerva swiftly took her wand out of her robes and pointed to her long ago students, but in response four wands were aimed straight to her face.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Professor," Angelus said smiling slyly, still aiming at her.
"What a friendly way to welcome your ex-students, don't you think?" Lucius added tapping his wand on his nose.
Fear shone brightly through the professor's glasses, but she didn't lower her wand. "What are you doing here?"
"What do you think we are doing here, Minerva?" Severus inquired trying not to laugh in front of his colleague, who grabbed her wand even more tightly.
"They are here because they are the new DADA teachers, Minerva," the voice of the headmaster interrupted to stop any further misunderstandings.
Albus approached the group smiling as usual, with very un-fashionable violet robes in Lucius's opinion. The old wizard stood next to his deputy headmistress and touched her arm. "You don't have to worry, Mr. and Mrs. Lestrange don't represent any harm to the school."
The Transfiguration Professor lowered her wand but eyed suspiciously at the younger wizards. "I don't think so, but I believe in your word, Albus."
"We are not going to hex you, Professor. We are going to be colleagues after all," Angelus put away his wand again and motioned his wife to do the same. She didn't want to but complied with his command.
Lucius and Severus imitated their friends and looked to the headmaster, whose smile grown considerably in the last minutes. "Great, now that is all sorted, we could start our meeting in the staff room. Minerva, could you be so kind and fetch Rose and Filius and meet us there?"
The Deputy Headmistress nodded and went in a different direction. The rest of the group followed Dumbledore. After a few corridors and turns, they reached a bronze statue of Merlin with the four founders in their animagus forms around him. Albus muttered the password and the wizard stepped aside to let them into the room.
The room was a comfortable place; it had a big fireplace on the left wall with three maroon velvet couches around it. On the right side of the room was placed an enormous redwood table with enough space for all the teachers and the headmaster himself. A huge library was next to the table and a vitraux with drawings from each house adorning the other wall, illuminating the room.
"Nice!" Mary looked around her and decided to sit in one of the couches in the most comfortable position that she could think of. She was semi-seated and semi-reclined, and with a dreamy look, she closed her eyes.
Albus smiled at her antics and took his place at the table, motioning the lords to sit next to him. Severus was tempted to sit in his usual seat, far from the headmaster and even farther from Sybill's seat, but against his wishes, he seated himself at Dumbledore's left. Lucius looked at the chair with some sort of distrust but after seeing Angelus's annoyed face, he decided not to try his luck by complaining and seated between Severus and Angelus.
"It was not so difficult, was it? One could thought that after years you could stop being the same spoiled brat, but it was not possible," Angelus joked, seeing Lucius's disgusted face.
"I am not spoiled, I have manners and I don't know who else was seated in this place before," Lucius replied indignant.
"Like Trelawney, perhaps?" Severus asked smirking. Lucius´s eyes grew wide with horror and he was about to stand up when the door was opened again and the missing professors entered the room, letting Angelus and Severus's amused smiles pass without notice.
"Good afternoon, Albus, Severus. Mr. Malfoy and Mr. and Mrs. Lestrange," Professor Sprout greeted politely entering the room with Professor Flitwick, behind Minerva, who still had a stern look on her face.
"Filius, Rose, Minerva, please take a seat. I believe that we have a few things to discuss," the headmaster said motioning them to the chairs beside him.
"A lot if you ask me," the Transfiguration teacher scoffed, sitting at Albus's right. The young wizards smirked at her antics but decided not to answer them.
Once they were all seated, the headmaster smiled broadly and continued his speech, "Dear friends, let me introduce you to our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professors."
For a few seconds, the room remained in complete silence. Professor Sprout shifted nervously in her place, while Flitwick eyed his new 'companions'. McGonagall couldn't believe her ears; she was totally shocked and kept gaping like a fish without pronouncing a word. How could Albus proclaim such an aberration: It was insane.
Lucius was trying not to jab at his old teacher's expression, while Angelus smirked and stood proudly in his place.
"I didn't know that you were trying to become a goldfish animagus, Minerva. Let me congratulate you for your great impression of it," Severus said seriously making his friends cough to prevent their laughter from echoing in the room.
McGonagall glared at the Potions Master, "I am just a little bit surprise, that's all."
"Do not worry Professor, we wouldn't have noticed," Angelus responded crossing his legs.
"I don't want to be rude, but Mr. Lestrange and his wife are convicts," Rose muttered trying to prevent a war between his colleagues, hugging herself, "I don't believe that the government would be enthusiastic to hear your idea, Headmaster."
"You don't have to worry, Rose. They were freed yesterday morning under Mr. Malfoy, Severus and mine surveillance," Albus replied trying to eliminated his fellow's doubts. "From now on, they will reside in the castle and teach our children too."
"I don't think that it is safe, Albus. It seems quite dangerous. They are Death Eaters after all, and we are talking about the whole school's safety," Minerva protested standing up. "Are you going to let them be in a classroom with innocent children, with muggleborns? With Potter? For Merlin's sake, it's insane".
"We are in the same room as you are, Professor, in case that you haven't noticed," Lucius replied playing with his wand without bothering to look at the anguish faces of his ex-professors. "It is really a pity that we don't have your approval, but I really don't care that much."
The Deputy Headmistress was trembling with rage but before she could respond, Angelus decided to intervene, "If I am not wrong, the past DADA teachers that you had were nothing more than frauds, impostors and even monsters. I think that we can do a better work."
"This is outrageous. You are not better than any of them and not qualified to be a professor…" Before she had a chance to finish her sentence, she was silenced by a very stern look from the headmaster who crossed his arms over his chest.
"In these Dark Times Minerva, we need all the help we could get," Albus eyed her. "I hope you trust my judgment and make comfortable with your new colleagues. I will not have fights among my teachers, so please restrain yourselves in order to prevent further disagreements." The professors looked at the headmaster in silence nodding at his orders. Albus smiled at their responses and continued, "now that it's all settled, I would love to have a chat with the Heads, so if you excuse me sirs. Humbly is waiting for you outside, he is going to show you your new chambers."
Lucius and Angelus raised from their seats and walked to the door with Mary sleeping in her husband's arms. Outside of the staff room, a little house elf with a yellow and clean suit was standing next to a statue. Humbly bowed and started walking though the corridors at an amazing speed for someone with short legs. The two wizards glanced at each other and kept following the servant. The elf stopped finally after climbing a stair in front of a portrait of an elegant white-haired wizard with blue robes. The wizard was sitting crossed legs on a velvet couch reading a book entitled 'Dark Magic and Hexes, from Merlin'. He only raised his eyes at them.
"I haven't got your password, but I believe that you don't want a servant to know it," the old wizard looked at the house elf twitching his nose. "Inform me of your choice tomorrow morning."
The portrait opened itself with a low 'Goodnight' from the wizard and Humbly took leave of them. The trio entered the cream painted room and noticed that it was good enough for them. The big windows on one of the walls illuminated the area and let them see that on the other side of the room was table with four places.
Angelus let his wife rest in one of the three couches that were placed in front of the fire place and admired the chamber. Lucius approached the door at the left of the fireplace and revealed what was supposed to be his bedroom. A king size bed was placed in the middle of this room, at one of its side was a door leading to a private bathroom and on the other was an enormous cupboard, magically enchanted to have space for all his possessions. After placing all his trunks at the foot of his bed, he summoned a house elf to unpack his belongings.
When he stepped out of his bedroom and looked for his friend, he found him seated in his bed with his head in his arms. Lucius stood at the frame of the door for a few instances and decided to join Angelus.
"Not the right color?" the blond asked, a little bit worried about his friend's expression. "You could always change it, you know. Just to annoy the old professor?"
"It's like something is missing. I don't know, perhaps the screams or the cold breeze of the Dementors…" the fire-haired wizard raised his head and sighed. "Anyway, I have to get used to it now. Tomorrow I'm going to teach, can you believe that?"
"Do not worry. We are going to enjoy our time here," Lucius replied smirking. "After all, this is our time to embarrass the little Gryffindors and made them lose the Cup."
"This is going to be a good year, an excellent year" Angelus played with his wand and made some green sparks. "With a clean and soundless murderer, the day would be perfect, do you know?"
Both of them glanced at each other and smiled knowingly, they were going to have the first great time together since the end of the war and they were going to revive why they were called Lords.
