Chapter Four - Dust

"I don't see Dad, George." said Fred, trying to overcome the sad scene in front of him.

"He went that way." said George, wiping the tears that insisted on rolling down his face. "Let's go."

"Think about it, Lucius." said a woman with golden hair and insinuating voice, before parting from him.

"I know that hag." breathed Fred between his teeth when the woman was far away.

"Are you all right, Luc?" asked Arthur in a worried voice, getting near his friend.

"What do you think? I've just buried my daughter!" he answered harshly.

"Never better." he finished sarcastically. "I'm sorry," he apologized.

"You have every right to be upset." said Arthur.

"They will pay." murmured Lucius beneath his breath. "Even if it's the last thing l ever do."

"What are you talking about, Luc?"

"The damned Mudbloods that broke into my home." he answered, his back still to Arthur.

"You can't be serious." said Arthur. "Bellatrix put those things in your head, didn't she?"

"I knew that I knew her!" said Fred.

"I've no idea what you're talking about." said Lucius, turning towards his friend.

"You can't just go setting Muggles homes on fire, Luc." urged Arthur.

"You say that because it wasn't your daughter who died in that fire!" shouted Lucius.

"You have no idea what it is to hear her calling my name and screaming for help every time my head hits the pillow." he said in a very low voice.

"Do as you wish, Luc. But don't expect my blessing." said Arthur in a defeated voice.

Once again, that strong yellow light bathed Fred and George.

"We're back home!" said Fred looking around.

"Dad!" George pointed to the man sitting at the table.

"You have got to cheer up, beloved. You've been looking like this for weeks." said Molly, extremely concerned.

"I'm sorry." apologized Arthur. "I'm worried, that's all" he said with a sad smile.

"Still worried about Lucius?" she asked in a gentle voice.

"Can't help it. We haven't talked in weeks. I'm afraid he might do something stupid." he said in a weak voice.

"You don't believe he could hurt himself, do you?" asked Molly, alarmed.

"No, he couldn't hurt himself" he said, looking at his wife. "But he could hurt other people."

For yet another time, Fred and George were dragged away to another memory, but this time they weren't bathed by that strange light.

Instead, they were greeted by deep darkness and feelings of coldness and despair.

"Dementors?" asked Fred, trembling, trying to find one of Azkaban's former guards amongst the crowd of running screaming people in the street.

"Worse. The Dark Mark." answered George, pointing at the huge sign hovering over a number of houses. "Come on!" he said, grabbing his brother's hand and dragging him towards a house where he saw a man with red hair entering.

"Incendio!" shouted the blond man in black robes to the Mudblood that was lying at the floor with his clothes drenched in alcohol.

"By Merlin!" said Fred, watching the man being consumed by the flames as George turned his face away.

"Expelliarmus!" shouted Arthur, making the Death Eater crash against the wall, the impact disarming him.

"Accio wand." he said, catching the hooded man's wand in his hand.

"Why, Luc?" asked Arthur, looking at the carbonised body in front of him.

"He was the last one of them." said Lucius, getting closer to the pile of ashes. "Nobody is ever going to get near our family again."

"Our family?" repeated Arthur, his head cast down.

"You are my family too. Just like Cisa and the baby. I'd never let anything happen to you" said Lucius, his eyes fixed on the ashes.

"You'd protect us from anything, wouldn't you?"

"From anyone and anything" said Lucius, looking at Arthur.

"So would I" he said, looking his friend in the eye for a moment, before holding him.

"Even if it means protecting you from yourself, Luc. Petrificus Totalus!" he said, pointing his want to the blond man's back.

"Lucius Malfoy, in the name of the Ministry of Magic, you are under arrest for murdering a Muggle-born."

A thick, gloomy fog flooded the room, and Fred and George felt themselves being dragged to another memory.

"This is getting really spooky, George." said Fred, shaking with cold, with his features quite bleak.

"Cold... So cold..." said George, looking around, trying to identify the place where they were.

"But this is…" he was interrupted by his father's arrival.

"Five minutes, Mr. Weasley. If he puts up a fuss, just call on us" said a middle-aged man with a frightening appearance.

"But don't worry, we got enough Dementors to keep away this sort of scum from good people."

"Azkaban." said Fred. "Hell on earth." he added, more to himself than to his brother.

"Luc?" asked Arthur to the man with blond hair crouched by the corner of the cell, mumbling unintelligible words.

"Luc?" he tried again, harder, with the same result. "For Merlin's sake, Luc. It's me, Artie" he said, in tears.

"Artie?" asked Lucius, with a thin voice and vacant eyes.

"Yes, it's Artie" answered Arthur with a sad smile.

"Where is she?" asked Lucius, getting near the iron bars where Arthur was. "She was here just now."

"There was nobody here", said Arthur, confused.

"Impossible! She was here. She said she came to wait for me." babbled Lucius, disturbed.

"She who, Luc?" urged Arthur, holding his friend's face between the bars.

"Julie." answered Lucius. "I've got to go back, Artie. She must be there. She must be waiting for me. She, Cisa and the baby. Yes… yes, that's it. You've got to help me" he panicked, pulling Arthur by his collar.

"Get me out of here." he murmured in the red-haired man's ear.

"I'm sorry, but I can't." said Arthur gravely as he tried to get away from the bars.

"You can't leave me here." said Lucius, his eyes filled with tears.

"I've got to go home, don't you understand?"

"Cisa and the baby can visit the place where you'll be after the trial." said Arthur, looking at the ground.

"You're not well, Luc. You're babbling things and you see things that are not there."

"You want me sent to St. Mungo's." realized Lucius, in horror.

"They are going to take good care of you there, I'm sure." said Arthur sadly, looking at his friend, as he stood up to get out.

"I AM NOT INSANE!" bellowed Lucius, charging against the bars when he realized Arthur was leaving.

"YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE, YOU TRAITOR!" he screeched at the top of his lungs.

"You had to be at my side, not theirs. I hate you, you bloody traitor" he said, crying. "I HATE YOU!" he shouted, before falling in tears to the ground, as Arthur headed to the exit, wiping his face with his hands, trying to control the tears that wouldn't stop.

The cold prison air was flooded by the yellow light, to which Fred and George knew so well, consuming everything it touched and plunging the twins back into their own reality.

Back in their room, Fred and George were practically thrown at the floor, due to the violence with which the small worn-out diary with the green cover sent them back. Still stunned by the travel, they didn't realize the diary was turning its pages at a frantic speed and shutting itself.

"George?" called Fred, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Not again!" complained George, trying to get his brother off him.

"Sorry", said Fred, helping his brother to his feet.

"You were right… We shouldn't have opened this diary." said George sadly. "Did you just make a noise?"

"No," answered Fred slowly. "He did", he pointed at his father, who had just Apparated in their room.

"Why the long faces, boys?" asked Arthur concerned. "What have you two done now?" he added.

"Nothing, Dad" Fred rushed to say, looking at the worn-out diary that was lying on the desk.

"Nothing we don't have a good excuse for." added George, seeing his father taking the diary in his hands.

"I see" said Arthur, with a sad smile, his fingers travelling over the letters in the cover.

"I think we better get down, boys." he said, with a frank smile to his sons as he put the diary back on the desk.

"Everyone's waiting for us – dinner." he said, going to the door, followed by the twins.

"Do you ever regret anything, Dad?" asked George hesitatingly.

"Yeah, Dad, about the things in your diary?" added Fred, making Arthur turn around to face them.

"Only about the things I didn't do." he answered sincerely. "Now let's go, I'm famished" he finished, winking at them and marching towards the hallway.

The End