Chapter Two - Falling From Grace
"It's really no use." Exclaimed Arthur Weasley as he poured over several documents at him kitchen table, Molly making his dinner in the background. "Lucius has been missing for three weeks now, you would have thought that the Auroras would have cought up with him by now."
"He's a tricky one Arthur, he's probably left the country by now." She paused at looked over at him. "But you do have to feel a little sorry for the poor guy." She said, watching her husband carefully for a response.
Arthur turned round and looked over at his wife. "The man deserves no pity, they should have locked him up with the other death eaters the first time he was accused. I still recon he bribed that jury to let him off, the guy's got enough money behind him. Makes you wonder how he gets his money."
Molly looked angrily at what he had said. "You really have no shame Arthur Weasley, sometimes I find it hard to believe that you are the 'think the best of everyone' man that I first met and married. You have grown so heartless over these past few years that I hardly know who you are any more."
"What have I said now? Every other thing I say is the wrong thing and I am not letting you leave this kitchen until you tell me what it is that I'm doing wrong!" Arthur shouted, standing up and standing in front of the kitchen door, glaring at Molly.
She could have very easily apperated to the other side of the door but decided that it was time she set the recond straight. "You used to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but now look at yourself! Lucius goes missing and there is a death and automatically it was him. What makes you think that he hasn't been kidnapped?"
Arthur stumbled over his words, trying to find something to justify himself but drew no conclusion. Molly stepped coser to him and carried on her rant. "And all those years ago when he was first accused and you believe that he should have been locked up, his wife was expecting a child, which she lost from the stress! What if had been you and I had lost Ron? Or Ginny? Or any of our children. Would you still think the same thing?"
Finding himself Arthur puffed up his chest. "You know what, I don't care. I know that you would never do such a thing but Lucius has never been anything even close to an angel and you know it! And what's to say that Narcissa did loose that baby from stress? How do you know that it wasn't him. How do you know that Vol... how do you know that he didn't kill her baby? He tried to kill Harry."
"How dare you!" Molly raged. She apperated out of the kitchen and up to her room where she locked the door and placed charms all around it to prevent anyone getting in.
Arthur walked into the corridor and walked toward the front door. The rain was starting to fall more heavily now and Ginny had been out in the front garden making daisy chains. He barely reached the door when it was thrown open by Ginny. "Dad! Come quick!" she shouted and raced back out into the rain.
Arthur followed her out, chasing her across the front garden to where she knelt beside what looked like a mass of blake robes. She pulled back one of the robes to reveal the pale, bloodstained face of Lucius. Arthur gasped and pulled his daughter away from the unconcious wizard. "Go inside, get you mother, tell her to contact St. Mungo's and have them send someone here, as quick as you can girl, off you go!"
Ginny ran off back toward the house as the twins approached their father. Arthur turned to them. "Come on, help me get him inside the house." The twins grabbed him and carried him back toward the house with Arthur following not to far behind them. "I'm not going to let him die, not like this." Arthur uttered darkly.
Molly ran to the front door as they reached it. "Goodness gracious Arthur, what happened?" She asked as the twins made their way into the living room, carefully laying Lucius down on the sofa. George undid the buttons that caused his robes to dig tightly into his neack and Fred fetched a bowl of water and a cloth, mopping the blood off of his forehead.
Arthur ignored Molly's question. "Have you called St. Mungo's?"
"Of course I have! They will be here in a few minutes at most. What happened to him Arthur? Did he attck you?" She asked, visually checking her husband for injuries, but she found nothing.
"No, no, it was nothing like that. I want to fetch Ginny in from the rain and she told me to come quick. He was just laying there at the end of the garden. We won't know what happened to him until he comes around, which is why we need a medi-witch or wizard here as soon as possible, if Voldemort has attacked him then we had best get onto it at once."
Despite the urgency of the moment, Molly smiled up at Arthur. "You care about the well being of a Malfoy. I never thought I would live to say it."
Arthur smiled back at her. "He's got a son that needs him. I couldn't imagine ever being away from any of my children. He needs the chance to talk to Draco, and for that he has to live through this."
"Dad! He's coming around!" Ginny shouted, racing into the corridor and grabbing her father's hand, dragging him into the living room as Lucius' eyes fluttered open.
He glanced around at the Weasley's and panicked, drawing himself up into a ball at one end of the sofa. "Please... don't kill me..." he whimpered, recoiling from everyone that tried to make contact with him. "I need your help!" He shouted, becoming slowly hysterical with tears. Everything that had happened flooded back to him and he started desparatly choking as he grabbed the sleeve of Arthur's robes. "I have to hide... you... you can't let him find me!"
"Can't let who find you?" Arthur said calmly, kneeling down on the floor beside the sofa so that he was as Lucius' eye level.
But Lucius was lost in incoherent sobs. Arthur rubbed his back, doing his best to seem like a friend to the death eater that he had loathed for years. But dispite the hysterical sobs and the talking tha existed between the Weasley children a voice could be heard above all the others as someone entered the room, followed by Ron.
Molly, Ginny, Fred, George and Arthur all sensed his presence and looked up. The tall blonde stepped into the room and looked at the sobbing reck on the sofa. His face contorted in confusion and for a moment there was nothing but the sould of Lucius crying. Then the boy spoke. "Dad?"
"Because I am falling into grace, to the unknown to where you are and, faith makes everybody scared, it's the unknown, the don't know, that keeps me hanging on." - 'Unknown' by 'Lifehouse' from the album 'No Name Face'.