Chapter 15 - Redeeming a Malfoy
Severus couldn't even wrap his mind around such an absurd statement. "Malfoy? Why?" he asked finally. Muriel didn't respond. Instead, she took his wand out of his hand and did the one thing that would have the entire place in an uproar instantly.
"Accio Lucius!"
Severus snatched his wand back from her, but the damage was done. Shaking his head, he spread his feet to brace himself. Muriel did the same, though she didn't feel much up to catching a flying person. It occurred to her that Lucius must have cast several pain blocking spells on her as well, or she wouldn't even be walking right now. When Lucius came flying around a corner of the hallway they stopped his progress with some difficulty.
"You're coming with us, mate," Severus said, giving him a somewhat pitying glance. To his surprise, Lucius only nodded and drew his wand. An instant later, they heard the inevitable footsteps pounding toward them.
"I'll get us beyond the anti-apparation wards," he whispered, and took off at a run. Muriel grimaced as she tried to keep up. Running wasn't the activity she would have chosen, but at least they weren't riding brooms to escape.
"What the hell?" Severus exclaimed, as Lucius led them into the library. There was only one exit from the room. He turned his wand on his old friend. "You tricked us," he said dangerously. But Lucius ignored him.
He was frantically searching a drawer. A moment later, he straightened up, a grim expression on his face. "Remember when you made me a portkey to come to your house when my father was angry?" he asked quickly, holding up a tattered copy of 'Quidditch Through The Ages.' They were gone before the Death Eaters entered the room.
Draco was pacing the hospital ward when Severus and Muriel came in. He hurried over to help her to her bed, but stopped short when Lucius followed them through the door. Muriel looked wretchedly unhappy for someone who'd just been rescued, so Draco did the only thing that made sense. He drew his wand. To his surprise, Lucius only looked at him mildly before taking Muriel's other elbow and helping her into a bed.
Madam Pomfrey shrieked when she first saw Lucius standing beside Muriel's bed. "He's with me, Poppy," Mur said quickly. The nurse swallowed and nodded before gathering her courage and stepping forward to see what was wrong with her new patient.
But before she could begin the examination, Muriel caught Severus' eye. "I need to talk to Poppy and Lucius alone, Sev," she whispered.
"I'm not leaving you alone with him. You hate him. You always did, and he never had anything flattering to say about you either." Severus was looking at his fellow Slytherin coldly as he spoke. There was no way he was leaving his new wife with the man. He was a monster, and Severus knew it better than anyone.
"This is important. Don't make me stun you."
"You're in no condition to stun anyone thanks to him!" Severus exclaimed. Mur cast a pleading look at Lucius, who promptly raised his wand and stunned Severus. Madam Pomfrey took three hasty steps backward as Draco took several angry steps forward. He faced his father from beside his stunned professor. For an instant their expressions matched so well Mur had trouble keeping them straight.
"Take Severus outside, Draco," Muriel whispered.
Draco set his wand down in Muriel's hand, his eyes never leaving his father. Then he lifted the form beside him and carried him out into the hallway without a word.
"He's astoundingly strong." Mur said, breaking the silence that had fallen with the closing of the door. Lucius didn't answer, knowing she meant more than his son's ability to carry the Potions Master.
"Poppy, come here," Mur said quietly. When they were both standing near her bed, Muriel took a deep breath and addressed herself to the nurse. "You will find when you examine me that I have been raped. Lucius was kind enough to perform a contraceptive charm for me, and several pain blocking charms, if I'm not mistaken," she paused here and both women looked to Lucius for confirmation. Madam Pomfrey's expression softened when he nodded. Perhaps the man had a heart after all.
"Severus should NEVER hear about this. I don't want ANYONE but the three of us to know it. Severus would only get himself into trouble." Madam Pomfrey nodded vigorously. Lucius only laughed quietly.
"You can always put a memory charm on me, if you like," he offered, remembering clearly the day when she'd offered the same to him. But Muriel shook her head. She was about to answer when Professor Dumbledore thrust open the door of the ward and strode toward them, his wand already raised. Severus and Draco were right behind him.
Instantly Muriel was out of bed, Draco's wand pointed at the aging Headmaster. The pain blocking spells were wearing off now, and she felt a wave of nausea as she tried to stand upright in front of Lucius.
"Lucius, you will have to come with me," Dumbledore said commandingly.
"You'll have to kill me if you want to take him, Professor," Mur answered. She cursed silently at the waver in her voice. It wasn't fear that made her falter, only pain. The Headmaster eyed her appraisingly for a long moment, taking in her bruised face and clouded eyes.
"Convince me that he doesn't belong in Azkaban," he said quietly. Muriel didn't risk her life for just anyone. There was more here than met the eye.
Muriel told them the entire story of what had happened in her fourth year, when she'd found Lucius at the Leaky Cauldron. Then she explained how he'd helped them escape tonight. "I can't tell you that he doesn't belong in Azkaban, but I CAN tell you that he deserves a second chance. Malfoy Sr. is all but dead. He can't control him anymore," she finished with a sidelong look at Lucius. She was leaning heavily on the bed, her wand still at chest level. Even her breasts were starting to ache, and the images her mind provided of Avery's hands on them were not helping her queasy stomach.
The headmaster levitated her into the bed even as she swooned. Then Poppy bustled over, sensing that there would not be a duel after all. She was extremely put-out at having all this excitement in her hospital ward. It had obviously done Muriel additional harm.
Dumbledore and Lucius eyed one other warily as they stood at the foot of Muriel's bed, listening to Madam Pomfrey fuss. Finally, Lucius held out his wand in the palm of his hand. The Headmaster reached for it, but thought better of it. Instead, he bent down and picked up Draco's wand, which Mur had dropped, and handed it back to the boy. An instant later he swept out of the ward, leaving Severus and Draco gazing at Lucius with poorly concealed hostility.
It seemed like hours of silence passed as Lucius tried to decide what to say to his son. Draco had renounced him at the age of 14 for doing exactly the same things to him as Lucius' father had done. Draco had found the strength to overcome it, whereas Lucius had succumbed to his father's will and led the life his father demanded of him.
Severus watched the Malfoys staring daggers at each other. He was surprised when Draco spoke first. "Where's Mother?"
"I sent her to France to stay with my relatives not long after you left." Lucius answered quietly, turning his eyes to Severus, who raised an eyebrow.
"The ones who don't speak to you?" Severus inquired. Lucius only nodded. "That was smart. The Dark Lord won't look for her there."
Draco sensed that there was a great deal of history between the two men that he couldn't hope to understand. They seemed to have a mutual respect, though he'd never heard his father say anything good about the Potions Master, except that Draco could trust him. He'd told him that as he dropped him off at the train station for his first year of school.
Muriel awoke several hours later to find that she'd been crying in her sleep. Severus was asleep in a chair on one side of her bed while Lucius and Draco whispered on the other side of the curtain. Madam Pomfrey, who seemed to have a sixth sense about these things, bustled out of her office only moments after Mur's eyes opened.
Muriel swallowed the potion Poppy handed her and grimaced at the taste. "Worse than wolfsbane," she commented dryly, handing the goblet back to the nurse, who smiled. Mur glanced at Severus, who was still sleeping. "How bad is the bruising, Poppy?" she whispered. The nurse looked at her with a pitying gaze, and Mur lowered her eyes. "I need to stay here until it's gone."
Madam Pomfrey nodded as Lucius and Draco came around the curtain. "Lucius, I need a wand," Mur said grimly. He made to hand her his own, but she shook her head. "I need you to go to Olivander's and get me one like the one I had – ask the old coot for something special for a Legilimens."
"I'll go, Father," Draco said quickly. "You shouldn't be seen outside Hogwarts." Muriel smiled. Apparently they had come to an understanding while she slept. Severus chose this moment to wake, and Draco nodded to him quickly before slipping out of the room. He knew she didn't mean for Severus to know about this little undertaking.
Severus narrowed his eyes. Something was going on here. He looked from Lucius to Mur, who reached for his hand. "I didn't know Lucius visited you when his father got violent," she whispered, looking at the portkey that still rested on her bedside table.
"We didn't want anyone to know, that's why we used a portkey. You can trace floo powder if you know the right people. Father always knew the right people," Lucius said bitterly.
"I didn't know about your meeting in the Leaky Cauldron. I asked you about your trip to London and you didn't tell me anything." Severus replied, sure that there was something he wasn't being told.
"Lucius put a memory charm on me. When I was studying ways to break them in America, I found a very promising potion and tested it on myself. I've remembered everything – that interrogation in our 6th year, the encounter with Lucius in our 4th year, AND the time when we were 10 and you put a memory charm on me so I'd forget the first time I beat you in a duel."
Lucius chuckled at this and Severus shook his head, embarrassed to have been discovered. That had been a very long time ago, indeed. They passed a pleasant afternoon comparing notes from their school days. Severus was glad to learn that it hadn't been Lucius who killed Mur's pet bird, and Muriel was pleased to hear that Severus had been more important to Lucius than just a lackey to go fetch food from the kitchens.
Draco arrived around dinner time and the men went downstairs to eat, Draco hanging back just a moment to give Muriel the wand she'd requested. She nodded her thanks and took it out of the box. She was still staring at it, the box lying forgotten in her lap, when Remus came in to see her. He sensed immediately that something wasn't right.
"Mur?"
Her eyes flashed toward him briefly before she looked around the room, then back at the wand. "I didn't think I'd survive when I finished with Bellatrix and Wormtail," she whispered hoarsely.
Remus furrowed his brow and reached to take the wand out of her hand. She wasn't making any sense. But the wand came up quickly to point between his eyes, and he stepped back. "I thought I'd take care of them and that would be the death of me, but it wasn't. The old man who taught me said you shouldn't do it more often than once each year. Your brain can bloody explode." Her voice was rising, and Remus thought she sounded slightly hysterical.
"That's what he said. But here I am. Two in the same day and here I still am." She laughed mirthlessly and Remus drew his wand as well. Her eyes snapped back to him and she looked suddenly desperate.
"Do you remember what I told you in our fifth year? You were never a match for us, Remus, because you were too bloody nice. Get out of here before I kill you." Her voice was hard and cold, and for the first time in his life, Remus was legitimately afraid of his friend. He backed away slowly, remembering the spell that had shattered the door to Sirius' bedroom back in Grimmauld Place.
"Take Poppy with you."
When they were gone, Muriel cast a pain blocking spell on herself and several locking charms on the door to the ward. She had to do this. There was no way to hide what had happened from Severus, not forever. She couldn't let him put himself in danger by going after Avery.
Severus couldn't even wrap his mind around such an absurd statement. "Malfoy? Why?" he asked finally. Muriel didn't respond. Instead, she took his wand out of his hand and did the one thing that would have the entire place in an uproar instantly.
"Accio Lucius!"
Severus snatched his wand back from her, but the damage was done. Shaking his head, he spread his feet to brace himself. Muriel did the same, though she didn't feel much up to catching a flying person. It occurred to her that Lucius must have cast several pain blocking spells on her as well, or she wouldn't even be walking right now. When Lucius came flying around a corner of the hallway they stopped his progress with some difficulty.
"You're coming with us, mate," Severus said, giving him a somewhat pitying glance. To his surprise, Lucius only nodded and drew his wand. An instant later, they heard the inevitable footsteps pounding toward them.
"I'll get us beyond the anti-apparation wards," he whispered, and took off at a run. Muriel grimaced as she tried to keep up. Running wasn't the activity she would have chosen, but at least they weren't riding brooms to escape.
"What the hell?" Severus exclaimed, as Lucius led them into the library. There was only one exit from the room. He turned his wand on his old friend. "You tricked us," he said dangerously. But Lucius ignored him.
He was frantically searching a drawer. A moment later, he straightened up, a grim expression on his face. "Remember when you made me a portkey to come to your house when my father was angry?" he asked quickly, holding up a tattered copy of 'Quidditch Through The Ages.' They were gone before the Death Eaters entered the room.
Draco was pacing the hospital ward when Severus and Muriel came in. He hurried over to help her to her bed, but stopped short when Lucius followed them through the door. Muriel looked wretchedly unhappy for someone who'd just been rescued, so Draco did the only thing that made sense. He drew his wand. To his surprise, Lucius only looked at him mildly before taking Muriel's other elbow and helping her into a bed.
Madam Pomfrey shrieked when she first saw Lucius standing beside Muriel's bed. "He's with me, Poppy," Mur said quickly. The nurse swallowed and nodded before gathering her courage and stepping forward to see what was wrong with her new patient.
But before she could begin the examination, Muriel caught Severus' eye. "I need to talk to Poppy and Lucius alone, Sev," she whispered.
"I'm not leaving you alone with him. You hate him. You always did, and he never had anything flattering to say about you either." Severus was looking at his fellow Slytherin coldly as he spoke. There was no way he was leaving his new wife with the man. He was a monster, and Severus knew it better than anyone.
"This is important. Don't make me stun you."
"You're in no condition to stun anyone thanks to him!" Severus exclaimed. Mur cast a pleading look at Lucius, who promptly raised his wand and stunned Severus. Madam Pomfrey took three hasty steps backward as Draco took several angry steps forward. He faced his father from beside his stunned professor. For an instant their expressions matched so well Mur had trouble keeping them straight.
"Take Severus outside, Draco," Muriel whispered.
Draco set his wand down in Muriel's hand, his eyes never leaving his father. Then he lifted the form beside him and carried him out into the hallway without a word.
"He's astoundingly strong." Mur said, breaking the silence that had fallen with the closing of the door. Lucius didn't answer, knowing she meant more than his son's ability to carry the Potions Master.
"Poppy, come here," Mur said quietly. When they were both standing near her bed, Muriel took a deep breath and addressed herself to the nurse. "You will find when you examine me that I have been raped. Lucius was kind enough to perform a contraceptive charm for me, and several pain blocking charms, if I'm not mistaken," she paused here and both women looked to Lucius for confirmation. Madam Pomfrey's expression softened when he nodded. Perhaps the man had a heart after all.
"Severus should NEVER hear about this. I don't want ANYONE but the three of us to know it. Severus would only get himself into trouble." Madam Pomfrey nodded vigorously. Lucius only laughed quietly.
"You can always put a memory charm on me, if you like," he offered, remembering clearly the day when she'd offered the same to him. But Muriel shook her head. She was about to answer when Professor Dumbledore thrust open the door of the ward and strode toward them, his wand already raised. Severus and Draco were right behind him.
Instantly Muriel was out of bed, Draco's wand pointed at the aging Headmaster. The pain blocking spells were wearing off now, and she felt a wave of nausea as she tried to stand upright in front of Lucius.
"Lucius, you will have to come with me," Dumbledore said commandingly.
"You'll have to kill me if you want to take him, Professor," Mur answered. She cursed silently at the waver in her voice. It wasn't fear that made her falter, only pain. The Headmaster eyed her appraisingly for a long moment, taking in her bruised face and clouded eyes.
"Convince me that he doesn't belong in Azkaban," he said quietly. Muriel didn't risk her life for just anyone. There was more here than met the eye.
Muriel told them the entire story of what had happened in her fourth year, when she'd found Lucius at the Leaky Cauldron. Then she explained how he'd helped them escape tonight. "I can't tell you that he doesn't belong in Azkaban, but I CAN tell you that he deserves a second chance. Malfoy Sr. is all but dead. He can't control him anymore," she finished with a sidelong look at Lucius. She was leaning heavily on the bed, her wand still at chest level. Even her breasts were starting to ache, and the images her mind provided of Avery's hands on them were not helping her queasy stomach.
The headmaster levitated her into the bed even as she swooned. Then Poppy bustled over, sensing that there would not be a duel after all. She was extremely put-out at having all this excitement in her hospital ward. It had obviously done Muriel additional harm.
Dumbledore and Lucius eyed one other warily as they stood at the foot of Muriel's bed, listening to Madam Pomfrey fuss. Finally, Lucius held out his wand in the palm of his hand. The Headmaster reached for it, but thought better of it. Instead, he bent down and picked up Draco's wand, which Mur had dropped, and handed it back to the boy. An instant later he swept out of the ward, leaving Severus and Draco gazing at Lucius with poorly concealed hostility.
It seemed like hours of silence passed as Lucius tried to decide what to say to his son. Draco had renounced him at the age of 14 for doing exactly the same things to him as Lucius' father had done. Draco had found the strength to overcome it, whereas Lucius had succumbed to his father's will and led the life his father demanded of him.
Severus watched the Malfoys staring daggers at each other. He was surprised when Draco spoke first. "Where's Mother?"
"I sent her to France to stay with my relatives not long after you left." Lucius answered quietly, turning his eyes to Severus, who raised an eyebrow.
"The ones who don't speak to you?" Severus inquired. Lucius only nodded. "That was smart. The Dark Lord won't look for her there."
Draco sensed that there was a great deal of history between the two men that he couldn't hope to understand. They seemed to have a mutual respect, though he'd never heard his father say anything good about the Potions Master, except that Draco could trust him. He'd told him that as he dropped him off at the train station for his first year of school.
Muriel awoke several hours later to find that she'd been crying in her sleep. Severus was asleep in a chair on one side of her bed while Lucius and Draco whispered on the other side of the curtain. Madam Pomfrey, who seemed to have a sixth sense about these things, bustled out of her office only moments after Mur's eyes opened.
Muriel swallowed the potion Poppy handed her and grimaced at the taste. "Worse than wolfsbane," she commented dryly, handing the goblet back to the nurse, who smiled. Mur glanced at Severus, who was still sleeping. "How bad is the bruising, Poppy?" she whispered. The nurse looked at her with a pitying gaze, and Mur lowered her eyes. "I need to stay here until it's gone."
Madam Pomfrey nodded as Lucius and Draco came around the curtain. "Lucius, I need a wand," Mur said grimly. He made to hand her his own, but she shook her head. "I need you to go to Olivander's and get me one like the one I had – ask the old coot for something special for a Legilimens."
"I'll go, Father," Draco said quickly. "You shouldn't be seen outside Hogwarts." Muriel smiled. Apparently they had come to an understanding while she slept. Severus chose this moment to wake, and Draco nodded to him quickly before slipping out of the room. He knew she didn't mean for Severus to know about this little undertaking.
Severus narrowed his eyes. Something was going on here. He looked from Lucius to Mur, who reached for his hand. "I didn't know Lucius visited you when his father got violent," she whispered, looking at the portkey that still rested on her bedside table.
"We didn't want anyone to know, that's why we used a portkey. You can trace floo powder if you know the right people. Father always knew the right people," Lucius said bitterly.
"I didn't know about your meeting in the Leaky Cauldron. I asked you about your trip to London and you didn't tell me anything." Severus replied, sure that there was something he wasn't being told.
"Lucius put a memory charm on me. When I was studying ways to break them in America, I found a very promising potion and tested it on myself. I've remembered everything – that interrogation in our 6th year, the encounter with Lucius in our 4th year, AND the time when we were 10 and you put a memory charm on me so I'd forget the first time I beat you in a duel."
Lucius chuckled at this and Severus shook his head, embarrassed to have been discovered. That had been a very long time ago, indeed. They passed a pleasant afternoon comparing notes from their school days. Severus was glad to learn that it hadn't been Lucius who killed Mur's pet bird, and Muriel was pleased to hear that Severus had been more important to Lucius than just a lackey to go fetch food from the kitchens.
Draco arrived around dinner time and the men went downstairs to eat, Draco hanging back just a moment to give Muriel the wand she'd requested. She nodded her thanks and took it out of the box. She was still staring at it, the box lying forgotten in her lap, when Remus came in to see her. He sensed immediately that something wasn't right.
"Mur?"
Her eyes flashed toward him briefly before she looked around the room, then back at the wand. "I didn't think I'd survive when I finished with Bellatrix and Wormtail," she whispered hoarsely.
Remus furrowed his brow and reached to take the wand out of her hand. She wasn't making any sense. But the wand came up quickly to point between his eyes, and he stepped back. "I thought I'd take care of them and that would be the death of me, but it wasn't. The old man who taught me said you shouldn't do it more often than once each year. Your brain can bloody explode." Her voice was rising, and Remus thought she sounded slightly hysterical.
"That's what he said. But here I am. Two in the same day and here I still am." She laughed mirthlessly and Remus drew his wand as well. Her eyes snapped back to him and she looked suddenly desperate.
"Do you remember what I told you in our fifth year? You were never a match for us, Remus, because you were too bloody nice. Get out of here before I kill you." Her voice was hard and cold, and for the first time in his life, Remus was legitimately afraid of his friend. He backed away slowly, remembering the spell that had shattered the door to Sirius' bedroom back in Grimmauld Place.
"Take Poppy with you."
When they were gone, Muriel cast a pain blocking spell on herself and several locking charms on the door to the ward. She had to do this. There was no way to hide what had happened from Severus, not forever. She couldn't let him put himself in danger by going after Avery.