Disclaimer: No, I don't really own Harry Potter. JK Rowling does. And if Warner Bros tried to sue me, I'll make like a Bedouin and disappear into the desert. ;)
Chapter Ten
Family of Bad Faith
"It is our choices Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our
abilities."
~Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the
something Corridore doesn't feel like looking up.
"Leave?" Sirius smiled bitterly and ran a hand through his long, unkempt hair. "Because I hated the whole lot of them: my parents with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royal.....my idiot brother, soft enough to believe them......" ~ Sirius Black, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
"Does it matter that she's my cousin?" snapped Sirius. "As far as I'm concerned, they're not my family. She's certainly not my family. I haven't seen her since I was your age, unless you count a glimpse of her coming into Azkaban. D'you think I'm proud of having relatives like her?" ~ Sirius Black, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
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Harry ripped the paper from her outstretched hands, which were quaking with anger.
"WHAT?" he demanded in disbelief.
Hermione's voice was shaking as well. "He.......he turned himself in, saying he had been put under the Imperius Curse. And Fudge.............Fudge PARDONED him." Her own voice echoed his shock.
He quickly brought the article up to his eyes and read.
The Daily Prophet learned that late this afternoon Mr. Lucius Malfoy of the prestigious Malfoy family turned himself into the Magical Law Enforcement Agency. After pleading innocence under the Imperius Curse, Mr. Malfoy was granted a rare pardon by Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, which absolved him of all guilt associated with his actions from June onward. Mr. Malfoy was widely believed to be one of the Death Eaters who, along with You-Know-Who himself broke into the Ministry of Magic a few months earlier. Lucius Malfoy was charged and placed in Azkaban prior to his trial. He and many others broke out in late July. Mr. Malfoy's wife Narcissa and son Draco were said to be extremely exuberant at the news. "It's just such a wonderful feeling to have him at home again after his ordeal," sighed Mrs. Malfoy. Other weren't so thrilled at the news, particularly many representatives in the International Confederation of Wizards. The British Ministry of Magic currently holds the leading position in the Confederation and while many countries side with Fudge, a good number are starting to splinter off and protest at what they claim is "inaction on the part of Fudge to counter You-Know-Who from the beginning." Spanish Minister of Magic Alfonso Nueguía seems to be the speaker for this group, which is fighting to give international Aurors more power to fight You-Know-Who and his group of dark wizards. Nueguía has also argued the Fudge should be relieved of his position and Hogwart's Headmaster Albus Dumbledore given full rein over the British Ministry of Magic. However, the Daily Prophet has recently learned of Mr. Nueguía's long history of consorting with werewolves. It is also believed he did nothing when Grindelwald........
The rest of the article seemed to simply spout as much unsavory information as possible about Nueguía and the other ambassadors who were criticizing Fudge. There was a large picture of a smiling Malfoy family in front of their estate. Harry threw the paper to the floor and scowled. "The Imperius Curse? More like he paid Fudge off." he said, completely disgusted.
"Bloody Hell! I can't believe they just let him go! He's a Death Eater! He attacked us!" Ron shouted, oblivious to the curious stares that were slowly turning their way.
Harry actually felt physically ill at the thought of a free Lucius Malfoy. 'After everything he did.........' he thought. To just be pardoned like nothing happened. Like no one had DIED. "Excuse me," he muttered, suddenly not wanting to be around people. He started to head upstairs.
"Harry............." he heard Hermione call him, but he ignored her. He reached his dormitory and flopped himself on his bed. He stared up at the crimson canopy without seeing it. Lucius Malfoy's Death Eater's mask filled his vision. That night.......that horrible, terrible night.........
"Harry?" an uncertain, accented voiced asked from near the doorway. Harry looked up and saw Cesare standing just outside the room. He ran a hand through his jet black hair, looking uncomfortable.
"Is it true? That Lucius Malfoy is now free? I tried to read the article, but your friend Ron wanted it." He shrugged as he entered the room and sat cross-legged on the bed across from Harry.
Harry sighed and pulled himself upright to talk to Cesare. He wasn't in the mood for conversation, but didn't want to lose what little trust Cesare might have for him, by snapping at the exchange student. "Yeah, Fudge pardoned him," he said irritably.
Cesare's brown eyes mirrored his surprise. "But how can your Minister do such a thing? Lucius Malfoy not a Death Eater? Come ridicolo, ciò non è possibile!"
"Er, yes........." Harry said, slightly bewildered by whatever it was that Cesare had exclaimed. "Well money and promises of power go a long way with Fudge."
"He should be eaten by a manticore," Cesare declared, completely serious.
Harry had to stifle the urge to snicker. "Well, we can only hope."
"Lucius Malfoy should not be free," Cesare said darkly. He jumped to his feet and paced towards the window. Harry watched him curiously. He was muttering and appeared to be wrapped up in his own thoughts.
"You seem to be awfully concerned about this. What do you know of Lucius Malfoy anyway?" he asked, trying to keep an accusing tone out of his voice.
Cesare quickly broke his gaze out the window and turned to look at Harry. But he couldn't meet his eyes. Still staring at the richly carpeted floor, he muttered. "He is a friend of my uncle's."
Harry felt his eyebrows rise in a questioning manner. "Oh really? So what does that make your uncle?"
"My uncle supports Lord Voldemort, if that is what you are asking," Cesare replied, rather snappishly.
But something else had struck Harry about that statement. "What did you just say?"
Cesare narrowed his eyes. "I said my uncle supports Lord Voldemort—"
"That's it. You said his name. Very few people I know will say his name," Harry said, slightly awestruck. If Cesare had grown up in a wizarding family, particularly a DARK wizarding family, he would have been taught never to use Voldemort's real name.
He shrugged. "I learned from an early age how to irritate my uncle. Saying Voldemort instead of the Dark Lord was an excellent way," he said delicately.
"And how about YOU, Cesare? Do YOU share your family's beliefs?" Harry demanded, feeling like a git for being so pushy, but also feeling like he had to know the truth.
Cesare's eyes met his and Harry though he saw something stir beneath their light brown depths. Then his face went back to being an inscrutable mask again. "Do you hold the same ideas as your Muggle family, Harry?" he asked quietly.
"Of course not! That would be ridiculous. After all, they hate magic and I'm a wizard!" Harry exclaimed, and then realized he had just fallen into Cesare's trap.
"Of course not," Cesare echoed. "Are we always what our families want us to be?" he asked softly. He seemed to be asking the question more to himself than to Harry. "Hermione wished to speak with you downstairs," he said abruptly and swept out of the room.
Harry felt like smacking himself across the face. It had been pretty hypocritical of him to think that just because Cesare's family might be dark wizards, he would be just like them. Thoughts of Sirius came unbidden, like sharp claws that dug at his heart. Hadn't Sirius hailed from a family that thought Voldemort was like bright morning sunshine after a dark monsoon night? Yet Sirius had been completely different. He had been kind and completely free of any pure-blood prejudice. It was possible that Cesare's situation was similar to Sirius's.
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Halloween passed by quickly as Hogwarts students got heaped down with more homework. Harry had trouble finding a spare moment to think between homework, Occlumency lessons, and Quidditch. Most of all he felt completely controlled by Quidditch. Although he loved being team captain, it made him a little worried to be responsible for the whole team. No wonder Wood had been slightly obsessive. Harry was pretty sure his team thought he was the same way. He had heard Ron loudly complaining to one of the Chasers about having to wake up at five o'clock. Harry didn't understand why he would be that upset. They needed the practice! Although maybe the four AM practice had been a little much .........
But nevertheless, they were a great team. The Chasers were superb and Ron seemed to have a bit more confidence this time around when it came to Keeping. Dean and Cesare were very good Beaters as well. Even if Dean had to quickly intervene to stop Cesare from breaking his bat over the head of the Ravenclaw Beater. Gryffindor still steamrolled Ravenclaw in the first game of the season 160-30.
Hermione had already started studying for midyear exams, to the disbelief of her friends. Ron had tried to physically take the book away from her, protesting that "It's only November!" Hermione had screamed something about how hard N.E.W.T. midterm tests were and then hexed him with a tickling curse that left him writhing on the floor. The rest of the Gryffindors had wisely not touched her books since then.
Cesare had still remained slightly aloof, although he would often spend time with Harry and his friends. He was occasionally missing and claimed that he had been studying. Hermione didn't believe him though. He rarely did any work for most classes, yet still excelled. Potions was the only exception, although with her help, both he and Harry were muddling through. Snape's hatred only seemed to increase with time. He clenched his fists when he saw Harry and Cesare talking, as if they were planning on taking over the world. However one day he had gotten what was coming to him.
Snape had the class working alone to produce a Floating Potion and had gone into his office and closed the door. He had only been in there a few minutes, when the class heard a muffled scream. Snape burst out of the room, followed at the heels by what seemed like at least fifty snapping, snarling rats. But they weren't ordinary rats. They appeared to have been bewitched with an Engorgement Charm because they were each the size of a small dog. The entire had started yelling, jumping out of their seats and onto desks.
Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione had noticed Cesare lean inconspicuously against his cauldron. The cauldron, full of completed potion, crashed to the floor and splattered most of the rat swarm. Yells turned to terrified screams as giant rats floated and zoomed across the dungeon's musty air. Despite Snape's orders to stay put, the class fled.
Hermione had confronted Cesare about it later and he had looked blankly at her.
"But I SAW you, Che! C'mon, fess up. Snape deserved it anyway."
He had shaken his head and given her a strange look. "Hermione, Hermione. Perhaps you THOUGHT you saw me do it on purpose. It was just an accident. Lost my balance," he said with a nasty grin.
His calm words had unsettled her. If it had been just a joke, why wasn't he sharing it with her? "You're a very good liar, Cesare."
"Why, thank you."
"It wasn't a compliment." She had given him a dirty look and walked away, feeling his eyes on her back. As much as she liked him, she was still slightly uneasy around him. He wore a dangerous, seductive aura around him. Even his kind words couldn't hide that. She noticed the dark shadows in his eyes and the calculating gaze he wore when he was upset or looked at Snape.
Her feelings deeply confused her. She couldn't deny that fact that she liked him, perhaps even more than a friend. But why did she still feel slightly scared of him?
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On the first weekend of December, Harry and his friends had planned to visit Hogsmeade to do their Christmas shopping. After a warm tankard of butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks, Harry and Ron had left Hermione and Cesare, arranging to meet back in an hour. Hermione smiled as they left. She had a suspicious feeling they were going to buy her Christmas present, but she didn't say anything. Instead she volunteered to show Cesare, who had never been to the village, around Hogsmeade. Their first stop had been Zonko's, where he had spent a good deal of his money.
Hermione expressed her surprise as they were walking towards the Shrieking Shack. "You don't strike me as the prankster type."
"You'd be surprised," he laughed and then pulled his cloak tighter. Hermione stifled the urge to laugh. How he HATED the weather in Scotland.
"Oh, are we finally admitting to terrorizing Professor Snape with floating rats?" she mocked.
"Come, now. You are not still angry about that?"
"So you do admit it?"
He stopped as they reached the haunted shack and turned towards her. "Fine, okay. I admit my terrible wrongdoing. But it was bloody brilliant," he said, affecting her accent. "Planned it for a month. It's very difficult to find and then hide fifty rats, you know."
Her eyes widened. "Che, that was very dangerous. You really scared a lot of people. Someone could have been hurt."
"But they weren't. It was rats, Hermione, not dragons. Relax, carina."
She started to protest, but he smiled at her concern and she felt her heart melt. Damn his smile. It made her feel like Lavender and Parvati giggling over Firenze or Harry. He stepped closer to her and she backed against the wall of the Shrieking Shack.
"Always so worried about others. Let them deal with it," he joked, pushing a lock of black hair out of his eyes.
"That's pretty selfish," she shot back.
"You think I'm selfish?" His brown eyes seemed to reading right through her, but she couldn't decipher his feelings in his closed-off face.
Hermione let go of a breath she didn't know she had been holding. She couldn't tear her eyes away from his stare. His face was inches from hers. "No ....... actually I don't. I don't think you care much about yourself at all. Or about anything else. Or ....." she hesitated. "Or about how people treat you. You're indifferent to the world," she finished, remembering the bruises on his face and arm the first week of school.
His gaze turned darker, but that was the only thing that changed in his calm face. He understood exactly what she was talking about, but chose to ignore it. Instead, he looked at his watch. "We should get going. We have to meet Harry and Ron in a few minutes." He abruptly turned around and started back towards the village.
"Cesare..... things will get worse if you don't do something....." she started to say more, but he had continued walking. With a frustrated sigh, she followed him.
Unknown to the both of them, a figure stepped out from behind the shack. His combed blond hair shook slightly in the wind as he watched them walk back to the village.
"This could be a problem," he said softly to himself.
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There was a pleasant surprise before Christmas. McGonagall held a meeting for all those students who had made it through her preparatory training for becoming Animagi. A surprising number of Gryffindors had the initial ability to pass the rigorous tests she had put them through. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Cesare, and surprisingly Neville would all start training after the holidays. Professor McGonagall warned them that they had not even started the hardest steps yet and it was quite likely that none of them would accomplish becoming Animagi. Her warning had little effect on their optimism, however.
They left her class eagerly discussing what animals they might become. Harry was probably more excited than any of them. He felt as if this was another connection to the Marauders. His father and his friends had done this, now Harry and his friends were about to try as well.
"So what sort of things do you think we'll do in the beginning of training?" asked Hermione anxiously. "Oh, I hope I do well!"
"I am sure you will do fine, Hermione," Cesare tried to assure her. He had a strange look on his face, as if he was trying hard not to smile.
"You don't seem very excited at the prospect of becoming an Animagus," she noted. He looked at her, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"You might be surprised," he mused.
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The last Potions class before Christmas break proved to be the longest yet. Snape was in a particularly vindictive mood. Apparently he hadn't heard of Christmas cheer. The class practically raced to the door when the lesson was over.
"Can you believe that slimy git!? It's Christmas! When does he want us to do all this homework?!"
Hermione sighed sympathetically. They were halfway to their next class when Harry noticed Cesare wasn't with them. He looked at Hermione puzzled. "Where's Che? He didn't get lost again?"
She shook her head. "Snape held him after class. Apparently something to do with Snape's office flooding last week."
Ron had joined them in the hallway on their way to Charms. "Oooo, that'll be a painful detention," he winced at the thought.
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Cesare didn't leave Snape's class too late. After establishing that Snape didn't have anything conclusive to pin him to the mean-spirited flooding, ("Just AWFUL, Professor, sir. How unfortunate, HOW sad that a student would be that callous. Have you asked Draco, sir? I think he may be feeling frustrated lately," he lamented, while Snape resisted the urge to strangle him), he had left, trying to get to his next class on time.
He was prevented from that goal, however; when he was stopped by none other than Draco in the hallway. Malfoy had quickly stepped in front of him and said curtly. "We need to talk."
"No, I'm pretty sure we don't," Cesare answered coldly and tried to go around him. Malfoy grabbed his forearm to stop him. Cesare stared at his hand, then into Malfoy's face. Draco got the message and quickly released him.
"It's important," he protested.
"Fine," Cesare gave in, thinking that the sooner Malfoy spewed whatever idiocy he was thinking at the moment, the sooner he could leave. He shifted his school bag. "You have thirty seconds."
The blond wizard's gray eyes darted around the hallway, making sure it was empty, and then continued. "You have to stop this."
"This what?" Cesare asked in a bored voice.
"This..... this business with Potter and his friends. Especially with Granger."
Cesare gave him a dangerous look, all traces of boredom vanished. "Excuse me?"
"Oh, c'mon. I saw you. It's obvious you like the girl. You have to stay away from her and her friends."
He had grabbed the front of Draco's robes, shoved him against the wall, and was reaching for his wand in less than a second. "Who do you think you are, Malfoy? Spying on me and making your own sick judgments, when I personally don't care at all for your opinion."
Malfoy narrowed his eyes. "Don't be so blind. You think I really care about you and your little Mudblood whor-friend?" he quickly corrected, deciding against initiating a repeat of the fight in Potions class.
Cesare looked at him with fury in his dark face. "If YOU don't care, then why ........," Sudden realization came to him, making him feel ill. "I don't believe it. He wouldn't .........."
Draco nodded grimly. "Yes."
He let out a shout of frustration and pushed Malfoy against the wall again. "You tell that sick bastard of an uncle to stay out of my business." A thought suddenly sprang to his mind and he grinned maliciously. "Tell him that when I find my father, he'll take care of him."
"You're bluffing."
"Am I? How do you know?"
"Don't you get it!? That's your problem! Do you want to kiss the rest of your normal life away so fast?"
Cesare blinked and gave Draco an odd look. "What? What are you talking about?"
Malfoy looked puzzled for a minute, and then his eyes brightened with knowledge. "You don't even know, DO you? What a joke. Everyone trying to protect you and watch your behavior and you don't even have the slightest clue." He let out a derisive laugh.
"What the hell are you talking about? Everyone watching me?" he demanded.
He smiled at Cesare's confused expression. "Do you think it's a coincidence? All those meetings at your house. You think they were only there to do Dark Magic in the dungeons? They wanted to see if the rumors were true. Your uncle is quite the show-off."
Cesare was more puzzled than ever. "I think you inhaled some fumes in Potions, Draco, because you're talking crazy." He released his hold on Malfoy and stepped back.
Draco looked smug as he brushed off his robes as if they had been contaminated where Cesare touched them. "You've been in denial so long; you can't even recognize what's going on."
"In denial about WHAT?"
Malfoy calmly looked at his desperate face. "Unfortunately for you, you'll find out soon enough," he answered coolly and mysteriously. "Now if you'll excuse me, I believe we both have classes to attend." He started to sweep past Cesare.
"If I see you watching me or Hermione again, I'll hurt you so bad you'll have wished I'd simply cursed you," he promised. "I am serious. Stay away from her," he demanded.
Instead of anger or fear, Malfoy's face showed only acceptance at Cesare's harsh words. "Trust me; I have NO desire to go near that mudblood. And soon enough, I'm sure you'll begin to see things correctly again." He looked at Cesare with what almost seemed like disgusted pity, and then turned and walked away.
Cesare watched Draco walk away and felt his stomach suddenly churn with dread. 'I'm not in denial about anything. He's insane and he's making up little ideas in his head to amuse himself with. I have nothing to be confused about. He's just rambling,' he thought quickly.
But he couldn't stop trying to figure out what Draco had been talking about. The Death Eaters at his uncle's house watching HIM? That made no sense. In their eyes he was almost nothing; just some kid with a messed-up father who got dumped on Vincenzo. Wasn't he?
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-_~ Author's Note ~_-
Please, PLEASE review! I've gotten hardly any reviews and it is quite depressing. And I will put the next chapter up sooner if I get reviews. I already have it written.
Thanks to those who did review!
T.H.W
Carina
HogwartsHottie
Linaevial
