Thanks to Silvaerina for the idea and information on the ljosalfar.
Chapter Three "that they should become a desolation and a curse" 2 Kings 22:19
"Malfoys Captured" read the headlines the next morning. Draco's thin lips compressed as he read on. From what the article said, it looked like most of the main families within the Death Eater ranks had been taken the previous day by the teams of Aurors. It was typical of the newspapers to headline the Malfoys, they were the biggest fishes in the Death Eater pond. Crabbe and Goyle's parents were in Azkaban as was Crabbe himself. Goyle had escaped imprisonment because like Draco, he had not yet turned eighteen.
He shook his fair head as he folded up the newspaper again. The Slytherin House had been decimated by this recent round of arrests. He estimated that approximately one in every five Slytherin families had been taken into Azkaban yesterday. Their children at Hogwarts, too young to be arrested, would be left under the care of guardians and would likely have no-where to go at school holidays. It was unlikely that any of their parents would be released. Draco knew that every family that had been captured yesterday had belonged to the Death Eater ranks and that the evidence would be easy enough for the determined Aurors to ferret out. He wondered bitterly how long it would take the Slytherin House to recover its pride and dignity, and recover from its most recent taint. He was glad he was no longer at Hogwarts to deal with the scorn from the other Houses.
"No dear, he's a Malfoy. You can tell from that extraordinary colouring," Draco heard a voice saying. It sounded so much like Snape that he looked around, expecting to see the tall, thin professor hanging around like a great, black bat. He was amazed to find himself still alone in the large dining hall.
"He looks like a ljosalfar," a woman's voice said. Draco looked around again. He was sure that was Hermione's voice.
"A what?" Snape's voice said.
"A ljosalfar. A light Elf. They're Norse, dear," Hermione's voice explained.
"He doesn't emit any light," the Snape voice said.
"No but he does look rather like them, doesn't he?" the Hermione voice replied.
Draco located where the voices were coming from. It was a painting near where he was sitting. It was of a ruined Scottish castle and the two were in the foreground. It was obviously not their home canvas, they had come into the dining room to stare at him. Draco did a double take when he saw them.
"Professor Snape? Hermione?" Draco said, getting up to examine them more closely.
"No, no dear. I'm Hermatica and this is Severus-the-first, Professor Snape's ancestor," the woman who looked like Hermione said.
"Are you Hermione's ancestor?" Draco asked curiously, looking closely at Hermatica.
"I don't believe so but who would know?" Hermatica said with a shrug. "She may be distantly related to my family."
"That's eerie," Draco muttered, his pale face wary.
"Are you a Malfoy?" Severus-the-first asked bluntly, staring haughtily down his hawkish nose at the boy.
Draco was reminded powerfully of Professor Snape. The two could be twins. "Yes," he replied, his face carefully expressionless and his voice cool.
"I thought so. Why are you here and not at Malfoy Manor?" Severus-the- first asked rudely.
"Professor Snape is my guardian for the time being. My home has been taken over by Aurors," he added, a touch of bitterness in his young voice.
"He's being doing rather a lot of that lately," Hermatica remarked to Severus-the-first.
"His last ward was prettier," Severus-the-first remarked flatly.
"I'm not so sure about that," Hermatica said, smiling kindly at Draco but looking amused too.
Draco wasn't sure whether to be more indignant about being compared to Hermione or about being thought 'pretty' by Hermatica. He settled for looking unimpressed.
"Why are there Aurors all over Malfoy Manor?" Severus-the-first demanded.
"Haven't you heard the news?" Draco said indolently. He fetched the newspaper from the table and passed it into the painting for them to read.
"Voldemort has been defeated!" Severus-the-first said, his deep-set eyes gleaming with satisfaction as he quickly scanned the article. "It doesn't say how though," he added, looking questioningly at Draco.
"Snape did it. He used the Avada Kevarda on him," Draco said bluntly.
Hermatica and Severus-the-first smiled at each other. "I knew he had it in him. He's a true Snape!" Hermatica said proudly.
"He's finally redeemed the family name," Severus-the-first said, looking gratified.
"There was a black unicorn there too," Draco said, "but I don't know where it came from. One minute, Voldemort was about to murder Hermione and then when I looked again there was a magnificent black unicorn," Draco murmured, almost to himself. He had not seen Hermione transform and still had not guessed her secret.
"Hermione nearly got murdered!" Hermatica gasped. "Thank heavens that Severus was there," she added.
"Black unicorn, you say?" Severus-the-first frowned. "That's very odd. Where would such a rare creature have come from on the North York Moors?" he asked, having gotten some sketchy details from the article.
"I don't know," Draco said seriously, his gaze far away. "But it was there."
* * *
Draco did not see Snape for 3 full days. Later he found out that neither he nor Hermione were seen for the whole of that time. With all the confusion of those few days, classes had been suspended at Hogwarts as the teachers were often tied up with Ministry business so fortunately, Snape being missing was not noticed by the students.
Draco had found himself being grilled by Severus-the-first who he found every bit as intimidating as Professor Snape. Severus-the-first had questioned his loyalties, the extent of his involvement with the Death Eaters and his future plans. It was obvious the Snape patriarch did not hold a terribly high opinion of the Malfoys, considering them Death Eater filth and nothing more. This rather surprised Draco as the recent generations of Snapes had been Death Eaters too. It was obvious that this fact was extremely distasteful to this particular ancestor.
Draco filled his time over these few days between University lectures by taking his Nimbus 2001 out to the grounds and getting the a House Elf to peg golf balls into the air for him to chase. He would have practiced with a proper snitch but he didn't want to risk losing his when he didn't know when he would be able to afford another one.
He had received an owl on his first morning at Snape Manor from Dumbledore advising him not to make any plans at this stage as he may suddenly find himself with the responsibility of Malfoy Manor if his parents were convicted. Draco decided that if that happened, he would defer his University studies for a semester while he took over the reins of the Malfoy fortune. However, things were still up in the air at that point.
The only time Draco felt even slightly normal was when he was flying fast as a bullet over the Snape estate grounds, chasing golf balls. The warm, late summer sunshine penetrated his Quidditch practice robes and glinted off his pale hair. The cool, thin air so high off the ground raked through his robes and blew his long hair off his face. He didn't want to come down.
* * *
Finally Snape came back to the Manor with news for Draco. He would not be required to testify against his parents, the Malfoy Manor had yielded more than enough evidence to convict them in just those few days. However, he would be asked to answer questions about Death Eater activities in the future.
"When is their trial?" Draco asked quietly, his pale grey eyes lowered and his angular face tense.
Snape examined the boy carefully, his dark eyes narrowed as he noted the even more pronounced hollows in his cheeks. "In just a few days. There was enough evidence to bring it forward," Snape replied, his tone carefully neutral.
"I'd like to see the trial but I don't want my parents to see me there," Draco muttered, his large white hands entwined loosely in his lap as they sat in front of the fireplace in the late afternoon.
"That can be arranged," Snape said smoothly. "You know that they had to be notified when you divorced them," he added carefully.
Draco glanced up to meet his old Potion Master's glittering eyes. "Yes," he replied briefly. "Will they use the veritaserum on them?"
"Yes, they always do with Death Eater trials," Snape replied quietly.
Draco nodded. "Good," was all he said.
Snape examined his withdrawn former pupil. He had always favoured him because he knew the boy had had a very similar experience in life to himself. Their families had been extraordinarily similar. However, he was beginning to realize that Draco was very different to himself in terms of personality. He himself had always been an intense, over-sensitive and passionate person that early in life had been warped to bitterness and used cruel sarcasm to keep others away. Draco was far more cool. They were both self-sufficient, reserved, calculating and shrewd otherwise they would not have both been Slytherins. However, Draco seemed to have ice in his veins at times and merely withdrew into himself rather than be bitter or sarcastic.
* * *
Draco watched the papers for the next few days until his parent's trial. By the end of the first week after Voldemort's defeat, he calculated that the Aurors had got them all. He was shocked at how efficient the Aurors were. His parents had always intimated that the Ministry Aurors were inefficient and stupid. Draco wondered idly about how many other things his parents had been wrong about.
The day of his parent's trial, Draco waited at the Snape Manor for Snape to collect him. At 8.30am Professor Snape arrived and they floo-ed to the Wizarding Law Courts. "You will be in a private viewing room. Your parents won't be able to see you there, in fact they will have no idea that these private viewing rooms even exist. Are you sure you wish to be present?" Snape asked as they walked along the long, marble corridors of the Court building.
"Yes," Draco replied shortly, having to stretch his long legs to keep up with the Potions Master.
Snape left him in a small room that was comfortably furnished with a fireplace, plush chairs, rich carpets and a table with hot tea waiting for him on it. One wall had a large window in it. Looking through it, Draco could see down into the courtroom. He was obviously at least in a second storey room and the court itself was more than one storey high. He suspected that the window could not be seen in the Court room at all. A charm would make it look like the wall was merely smooth stone all the way to the ceiling. He wondered how many other private viewing rooms were positioned around the Court room.
One either side of a central area, seats rose arena style around the perimeter. At one end was the judges bench and in the centre, several chairs were lined up. The room looked rather stark. The seats were padded and comfortable looking but the room was all black and grey with no paintings or decoration of any kind. The walls and floor were smooth stone and cold looking, and the judge's bench was plain oak.
Draco poured himself a cup of tea simply to kill time. The trial would start at 9am sharp but it was now only 8.45am. He drank it standing up, looking down into the foreboding Court room. He stood very still, apart from taking the occasional sip of the hot tea.
By the time he'd had two cups, people began to file into the Court room. The galleries filled quickly, then came the jury and then the judge herself. Finally, his parents were brought in surrounded by Aurors. They obviously had restraining charms put on them but not unduly strong ones. Draco could not take his eyes off his parent's faces. Lucius had seemed to age ten years in one week but although his face was haggard, he was still immaculately presented and his cold eyes gleamed contemptuously as they raked the galleries. Narcissa was beautifully groomed and still affected languor and boredom even as a prisoner. She too looked older, however.
The judge quickly brought the proceedings to order and they spent the morning hearing from the Aurors who had been sifting through the Malfoy Manor for the previous week. Draco couldn't believe how much they had found. They would have had to dismantle an enormous amount of powerful and dangerous charms to even reach most of the evidence. He could tell from his parent's faces that they couldn't quite believe what the Aurors had managed to find so quickly either. The evidence was there however. There was exhibit after exhibit of Dark Arts books and instruments, and Death Eater documents and accoutrements. There could be no doubt what the pair had been involved in.
When the Court recessed for lunch, Draco already knew his parents had no chance. They would be sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss without a doubt and spend the rest of their soul-less days in Azkaban. He sat very still for the entire hour of the lunch recess, barely blinking. The silver tray of lunch that appeared on the table was left untouched. He couldn't sort out his feelings, in fact he could barely feel at all at that point. Memories played themselves out as his vision turned inwards. He remembered his parents at different times as he was growing up. He was hoping some positive memories would surface but none did. All his memories of his parents were tinged with coldness and a sense of dissatisfaction with himself as their heir. He knew deep down that this would be the last time he would see his parents with souls, still alive in any real sense of the word. He wanted to find a good reason to regret their loss but he couldn't - not one. That was what hurt, that was what made him bite his lip until it bled as he sat there. He couldn't regret their loss because they had never really been there at all, not as parents should. In fact, their being sentenced to Azkaban would merely set him free of their harsh regime and expectations. If he had anything to mourn, it was that he now would never be able to redeem the parenting he should have had. That chance, slim as it was, was lost forever.
Chapter Three "that they should become a desolation and a curse" 2 Kings 22:19
"Malfoys Captured" read the headlines the next morning. Draco's thin lips compressed as he read on. From what the article said, it looked like most of the main families within the Death Eater ranks had been taken the previous day by the teams of Aurors. It was typical of the newspapers to headline the Malfoys, they were the biggest fishes in the Death Eater pond. Crabbe and Goyle's parents were in Azkaban as was Crabbe himself. Goyle had escaped imprisonment because like Draco, he had not yet turned eighteen.
He shook his fair head as he folded up the newspaper again. The Slytherin House had been decimated by this recent round of arrests. He estimated that approximately one in every five Slytherin families had been taken into Azkaban yesterday. Their children at Hogwarts, too young to be arrested, would be left under the care of guardians and would likely have no-where to go at school holidays. It was unlikely that any of their parents would be released. Draco knew that every family that had been captured yesterday had belonged to the Death Eater ranks and that the evidence would be easy enough for the determined Aurors to ferret out. He wondered bitterly how long it would take the Slytherin House to recover its pride and dignity, and recover from its most recent taint. He was glad he was no longer at Hogwarts to deal with the scorn from the other Houses.
"No dear, he's a Malfoy. You can tell from that extraordinary colouring," Draco heard a voice saying. It sounded so much like Snape that he looked around, expecting to see the tall, thin professor hanging around like a great, black bat. He was amazed to find himself still alone in the large dining hall.
"He looks like a ljosalfar," a woman's voice said. Draco looked around again. He was sure that was Hermione's voice.
"A what?" Snape's voice said.
"A ljosalfar. A light Elf. They're Norse, dear," Hermione's voice explained.
"He doesn't emit any light," the Snape voice said.
"No but he does look rather like them, doesn't he?" the Hermione voice replied.
Draco located where the voices were coming from. It was a painting near where he was sitting. It was of a ruined Scottish castle and the two were in the foreground. It was obviously not their home canvas, they had come into the dining room to stare at him. Draco did a double take when he saw them.
"Professor Snape? Hermione?" Draco said, getting up to examine them more closely.
"No, no dear. I'm Hermatica and this is Severus-the-first, Professor Snape's ancestor," the woman who looked like Hermione said.
"Are you Hermione's ancestor?" Draco asked curiously, looking closely at Hermatica.
"I don't believe so but who would know?" Hermatica said with a shrug. "She may be distantly related to my family."
"That's eerie," Draco muttered, his pale face wary.
"Are you a Malfoy?" Severus-the-first asked bluntly, staring haughtily down his hawkish nose at the boy.
Draco was reminded powerfully of Professor Snape. The two could be twins. "Yes," he replied, his face carefully expressionless and his voice cool.
"I thought so. Why are you here and not at Malfoy Manor?" Severus-the- first asked rudely.
"Professor Snape is my guardian for the time being. My home has been taken over by Aurors," he added, a touch of bitterness in his young voice.
"He's being doing rather a lot of that lately," Hermatica remarked to Severus-the-first.
"His last ward was prettier," Severus-the-first remarked flatly.
"I'm not so sure about that," Hermatica said, smiling kindly at Draco but looking amused too.
Draco wasn't sure whether to be more indignant about being compared to Hermione or about being thought 'pretty' by Hermatica. He settled for looking unimpressed.
"Why are there Aurors all over Malfoy Manor?" Severus-the-first demanded.
"Haven't you heard the news?" Draco said indolently. He fetched the newspaper from the table and passed it into the painting for them to read.
"Voldemort has been defeated!" Severus-the-first said, his deep-set eyes gleaming with satisfaction as he quickly scanned the article. "It doesn't say how though," he added, looking questioningly at Draco.
"Snape did it. He used the Avada Kevarda on him," Draco said bluntly.
Hermatica and Severus-the-first smiled at each other. "I knew he had it in him. He's a true Snape!" Hermatica said proudly.
"He's finally redeemed the family name," Severus-the-first said, looking gratified.
"There was a black unicorn there too," Draco said, "but I don't know where it came from. One minute, Voldemort was about to murder Hermione and then when I looked again there was a magnificent black unicorn," Draco murmured, almost to himself. He had not seen Hermione transform and still had not guessed her secret.
"Hermione nearly got murdered!" Hermatica gasped. "Thank heavens that Severus was there," she added.
"Black unicorn, you say?" Severus-the-first frowned. "That's very odd. Where would such a rare creature have come from on the North York Moors?" he asked, having gotten some sketchy details from the article.
"I don't know," Draco said seriously, his gaze far away. "But it was there."
* * *
Draco did not see Snape for 3 full days. Later he found out that neither he nor Hermione were seen for the whole of that time. With all the confusion of those few days, classes had been suspended at Hogwarts as the teachers were often tied up with Ministry business so fortunately, Snape being missing was not noticed by the students.
Draco had found himself being grilled by Severus-the-first who he found every bit as intimidating as Professor Snape. Severus-the-first had questioned his loyalties, the extent of his involvement with the Death Eaters and his future plans. It was obvious the Snape patriarch did not hold a terribly high opinion of the Malfoys, considering them Death Eater filth and nothing more. This rather surprised Draco as the recent generations of Snapes had been Death Eaters too. It was obvious that this fact was extremely distasteful to this particular ancestor.
Draco filled his time over these few days between University lectures by taking his Nimbus 2001 out to the grounds and getting the a House Elf to peg golf balls into the air for him to chase. He would have practiced with a proper snitch but he didn't want to risk losing his when he didn't know when he would be able to afford another one.
He had received an owl on his first morning at Snape Manor from Dumbledore advising him not to make any plans at this stage as he may suddenly find himself with the responsibility of Malfoy Manor if his parents were convicted. Draco decided that if that happened, he would defer his University studies for a semester while he took over the reins of the Malfoy fortune. However, things were still up in the air at that point.
The only time Draco felt even slightly normal was when he was flying fast as a bullet over the Snape estate grounds, chasing golf balls. The warm, late summer sunshine penetrated his Quidditch practice robes and glinted off his pale hair. The cool, thin air so high off the ground raked through his robes and blew his long hair off his face. He didn't want to come down.
* * *
Finally Snape came back to the Manor with news for Draco. He would not be required to testify against his parents, the Malfoy Manor had yielded more than enough evidence to convict them in just those few days. However, he would be asked to answer questions about Death Eater activities in the future.
"When is their trial?" Draco asked quietly, his pale grey eyes lowered and his angular face tense.
Snape examined the boy carefully, his dark eyes narrowed as he noted the even more pronounced hollows in his cheeks. "In just a few days. There was enough evidence to bring it forward," Snape replied, his tone carefully neutral.
"I'd like to see the trial but I don't want my parents to see me there," Draco muttered, his large white hands entwined loosely in his lap as they sat in front of the fireplace in the late afternoon.
"That can be arranged," Snape said smoothly. "You know that they had to be notified when you divorced them," he added carefully.
Draco glanced up to meet his old Potion Master's glittering eyes. "Yes," he replied briefly. "Will they use the veritaserum on them?"
"Yes, they always do with Death Eater trials," Snape replied quietly.
Draco nodded. "Good," was all he said.
Snape examined his withdrawn former pupil. He had always favoured him because he knew the boy had had a very similar experience in life to himself. Their families had been extraordinarily similar. However, he was beginning to realize that Draco was very different to himself in terms of personality. He himself had always been an intense, over-sensitive and passionate person that early in life had been warped to bitterness and used cruel sarcasm to keep others away. Draco was far more cool. They were both self-sufficient, reserved, calculating and shrewd otherwise they would not have both been Slytherins. However, Draco seemed to have ice in his veins at times and merely withdrew into himself rather than be bitter or sarcastic.
* * *
Draco watched the papers for the next few days until his parent's trial. By the end of the first week after Voldemort's defeat, he calculated that the Aurors had got them all. He was shocked at how efficient the Aurors were. His parents had always intimated that the Ministry Aurors were inefficient and stupid. Draco wondered idly about how many other things his parents had been wrong about.
The day of his parent's trial, Draco waited at the Snape Manor for Snape to collect him. At 8.30am Professor Snape arrived and they floo-ed to the Wizarding Law Courts. "You will be in a private viewing room. Your parents won't be able to see you there, in fact they will have no idea that these private viewing rooms even exist. Are you sure you wish to be present?" Snape asked as they walked along the long, marble corridors of the Court building.
"Yes," Draco replied shortly, having to stretch his long legs to keep up with the Potions Master.
Snape left him in a small room that was comfortably furnished with a fireplace, plush chairs, rich carpets and a table with hot tea waiting for him on it. One wall had a large window in it. Looking through it, Draco could see down into the courtroom. He was obviously at least in a second storey room and the court itself was more than one storey high. He suspected that the window could not be seen in the Court room at all. A charm would make it look like the wall was merely smooth stone all the way to the ceiling. He wondered how many other private viewing rooms were positioned around the Court room.
One either side of a central area, seats rose arena style around the perimeter. At one end was the judges bench and in the centre, several chairs were lined up. The room looked rather stark. The seats were padded and comfortable looking but the room was all black and grey with no paintings or decoration of any kind. The walls and floor were smooth stone and cold looking, and the judge's bench was plain oak.
Draco poured himself a cup of tea simply to kill time. The trial would start at 9am sharp but it was now only 8.45am. He drank it standing up, looking down into the foreboding Court room. He stood very still, apart from taking the occasional sip of the hot tea.
By the time he'd had two cups, people began to file into the Court room. The galleries filled quickly, then came the jury and then the judge herself. Finally, his parents were brought in surrounded by Aurors. They obviously had restraining charms put on them but not unduly strong ones. Draco could not take his eyes off his parent's faces. Lucius had seemed to age ten years in one week but although his face was haggard, he was still immaculately presented and his cold eyes gleamed contemptuously as they raked the galleries. Narcissa was beautifully groomed and still affected languor and boredom even as a prisoner. She too looked older, however.
The judge quickly brought the proceedings to order and they spent the morning hearing from the Aurors who had been sifting through the Malfoy Manor for the previous week. Draco couldn't believe how much they had found. They would have had to dismantle an enormous amount of powerful and dangerous charms to even reach most of the evidence. He could tell from his parent's faces that they couldn't quite believe what the Aurors had managed to find so quickly either. The evidence was there however. There was exhibit after exhibit of Dark Arts books and instruments, and Death Eater documents and accoutrements. There could be no doubt what the pair had been involved in.
When the Court recessed for lunch, Draco already knew his parents had no chance. They would be sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss without a doubt and spend the rest of their soul-less days in Azkaban. He sat very still for the entire hour of the lunch recess, barely blinking. The silver tray of lunch that appeared on the table was left untouched. He couldn't sort out his feelings, in fact he could barely feel at all at that point. Memories played themselves out as his vision turned inwards. He remembered his parents at different times as he was growing up. He was hoping some positive memories would surface but none did. All his memories of his parents were tinged with coldness and a sense of dissatisfaction with himself as their heir. He knew deep down that this would be the last time he would see his parents with souls, still alive in any real sense of the word. He wanted to find a good reason to regret their loss but he couldn't - not one. That was what hurt, that was what made him bite his lip until it bled as he sat there. He couldn't regret their loss because they had never really been there at all, not as parents should. In fact, their being sentenced to Azkaban would merely set him free of their harsh regime and expectations. If he had anything to mourn, it was that he now would never be able to redeem the parenting he should have had. That chance, slim as it was, was lost forever.
