The Malfoy Family Curse
By: Scarletserpent
Disclaimer: I only own Seamus Malfoy and the Evil and the Good and all those fun people, I do not own Harry Potter, or any other characters from the Harry Potter series. They belong to the brilliant J.K. Rowling.
Rating: R for future slash and a little bit of language... nothing serious here.
Warnings: None for this chapter.
Summary: 5,000 years ago Seamus Malfoy bargained with Evil for his family to live again after their horrific deaths of a strange disease. Evil grants his wish, but in return the Malfoy family must serve Evil for all of eternity... Can anything break this curse? Or anyone?
A/N: Yay! I was so happy after I got 4 whole reviews for my last chapter, I decided to update as soon as I could. Thank you to all who reviewed!! I love you all! And, here are my reviewer thank-yous!
soph5232- Thank you very much for reviewing. I'm glad you think that I have an original plot. About Good and Evil, they are supposed to be a bit immature. They're deities, but they are just like kids playing with fire, you know? Thank you for pointing that out!
Pinkmoonbunny2002- Lol, I'm glad you said that actually. I was going to ask people what they thought would break the Curse. You might be on the right track, but who knows? I guess you'll just have to read on to find out! ;-)
hersheyhugs- Thank you sooo much for reviewing!! I am so glad that you like my story, it means a lot to me! Yes, Draco is such a snob, but isn't he always? He's the Draco we all know and love! And of course naive Harry! I plan on continuing as long as my muse sticks with me. Thanks again!
TiGrrrrDYR- Thank you so much for reviewing! I'm glad you like the Good and Evil. They are my favorite characters by far. Thank you!! :-D
To everyone else! Please read and review! :-)
Chapter 4- The Half-Year Deadline
Draco was not quite sure why he had done what he had earlier that day. Potter and he were arch rivals, and arch rivals did not have pleasant conversations. Okay, so that hadn't been exactly pleasant, but it was the closest he and Potter had ever come to being decent to one another. He shook himself, what was he thinking? He had even gone looking for Potter. Shuddering, he made his way down to the Charms room. Yes, although he thought it was a bad idea, he figured it was best to go and figure the whole Curse thing.
'What did I do to deserve this?' Malfoy whined to himself. 'Stupid words being bound to my soul, and now Potter's soul… What is this?'
He walked into the room, making sure that it was empty. Then he recalled Potter's little toy; the invisibility cloak. Great, now Potter could watch him looking around like a frightened child. This was turning out to be such a great day. 'Funny,' he thought. 'I even sound sarcastic when I think¼'
Draco lit the room with wand light, and called out softly, "Potter? Potter are you in here?"
When no one replied Draco sat himself down in one of the chairs in the corner of the room. He was a bit early anyway, he supposed. This gave him more time to think about what to say to Potter when he arrived full of questions. What was there to say? Yes, they both had a Curse bound to their souls, and now they had to figure out what it meant. Draco sighed, he hadn't mentioned the worst part either. If they didn't find out what was going on within a half-year of the binding, there would be serious consequences.
'There should really be a book on this,' Draco mused to himself. 'How to Inform Your Arch Rival of Their Impending Doom.'
Draco half-jumped out of his seat when he heard a noise coming from the corridor. There was a loud crash, and the sound of running, and the door opened, revealing a red-faced Harry Potter. Potter looked around the room, obviously hoping Draco wasn't there to see his clumsy entrance, and blushed a brighter red when he spotted the blonde boy in the corner.
"Nice Potter," Draco sneered. "Do you want to get us caught?"
"Sorry," Harry said sheepishly, as he closed the door softly behind him. "I'm not used to going about the school without my invisibility cloak. I was just a bit¼ jumpy."
"A bit jumpy? You've probably woken up half the school," Draco frowned. "And why didn't you use the cloak anyway?"
"You said no more using the cloak, so I didn't," Harry looked at him earnestly.
Draco thought he was going to be sick. "Potter, I meant no sneaking around me with that thing. By all means, use the cloak for sneaking around to meet me. Bloody stupid Gryffindors."
"Sorry," Potter said, looking around the room. "So, what do I need to know about the Curse?"
"What?" Draco was momentarily confused. "Oh, right, the binding. Er¼ you know most of the facts already. The Curse was bound to both of us about a month ago. I have no idea why, and you had a dream. What was the dream about again?"
"Umm¼" Potter looked flustered. As Draco watched him closely, he saw the faint blush creeping up his cheek. "You see¼" Potter tried again, but to no avail.
"Just spit it out Potter, it can't be that bad," Draco was getting a bit annoyed with the other boy. Just what had he dreamed about anyway that was so terribly hard to say?
"¼" Potter was blushing fully now. He had never been one to be unforthcoming about a dream, why start now?
Sudden realization dawned upon Draco, "You dreamed about me? Didn't you?"
"Mmph," Potter mumbled.
"I shall take that as an affirmation. Did you have a fantasy about me? Poor Potter soak the sheets?" Draco teased.
Potter turned, if possible, even brighter red, bordering on purple, and exclaimed loudly, "I did not!"
"Jeez Potter, not so loud!" Draco whispered, glancing quickly at the doorway.
"Fine!" The other boy whispered hotly. "Look, the dream was about you and some guy that looked like you. He was talking, and all I heard was the Curse. Okay?"
"Hmm¼ So he looked like me, you say?" Draco asked, completely dropping the wet dream idea. "Was it my father?"
"No, the guy looked more like you than your father. He looked like your older twin or something," Potter shook his head. "I have no idea who it is."
"I don't either. Nobody in my family resembles me as closely as my father." Draco was baffled. "Was that all of the dream?"
There came that creeping red blush again. "Not exactly¼"
"What else was there?" Draco asked impatiently. He was getting a bit sick of this shy thing.
"You got sucked into this big black thing, and I thought you died," Potter said quickly.
Draco wasn't quite sure what was so embarrassing about that, "Is that it? That is what was so hard to tell me?!"
Potter looked indignant, "No!" He clapped his hand over his mouth. Obviously there was more to this story than he was telling.
"Really now?" Draco was interested in what Potter was hiding, not to mention making the messy-haired boy flustered like that was always a plus.
"Look, it isn't important."
"I want to know."
"No!"
"Yes, actually I believe that I do."
"Look Malfoy, I don't know what you think it was, but I can assure you that it is nothing like that!"
"I didn't say it was 'like' anything. And if it isn't anything bad, then why don't you just tell me?"
"Because!"
"Good reasoning there Potter, for a first year."
"Gah! I don't know why I am arguing this with you anyway! It doesn't matter."
"Doesn't it? What if it has some significance? Don't you think that we should get this over with before..." Draco stopped short. Oh great, he had almost told his own little secret about the six month thing early.
"Before what, Malfoy?" Potter looked interested now.
"Oh honestly, if we're going to have to do it this way..." Draco rolled his eyes before continuing with a good impression of a young child, "I'll tell you if you tell me!"
Potter laughed.
'Potter just laughed at something I said,' Draco thought to himself. 'That is a first.' He shook his head, and said, "So, is it a deal?"
"Okay then," Potter replied, still snickering. "Who goes first?"
"We are not going to go that far, you go first."
"Why me?"
"Because yours might be funny. Mine is not even remotely funny, Potter," Draco told him, completely honestly.
"Oh. Okay, well when I had this dream, well nightmare I guess, firstly I was dreaming about you, which is weird. But, when you got sucked into the black thing I thought you had died, and..." He cleared his throat a few times. "I woke up screaming. I was really frightened Malfoy, okay? I didn't want another person to die like that..."
Wow, that was definitely unexpected. Did Potter actually care? He had woken up screaming because he thought Draco had died. He didn't want Draco dead? It was almost too much to process. Draco looked at the other boy, and saw nothing but total honesty in his eyes. But, if Potter cared... "I had no idea you cared," he said dryly.
"Neither did I..." Potter mumbled, looking ashamed.
'He looks cute like that,' Draco mused to himself. Three, two, one... 'CUTE?! No... I didn't just think that! Oh fuck, I cannot possibly find him attractive. It must be the binding thing. Yes, that must be it...'
"Look, Potter, I think the binding spell might have done some funny things to our heads. You must have been bound to me or something as well. I'll have to research it soon. Very soon."
"As much as I would like to be rid of this Curse thing, I have to ask: what is up with the rush?"
"Oh, right, my half of the bargain," Draco looked warily at the other boy. Potter was looking at him with anticipation. "The binding spell... There is a bit more to it. You see... once we are bound to it, there are certain... requirements... that must be met. Like, we both have to know how to fix it, and then undo the Curse together. But, that is a given," he paused for a moment. "Look... Potter we have to get this Curse unbound within a half-year, okay?"
"From now?" Potter asked, not looking worried.
"No, from when it was bound to us... a month ago."
Potter still didn't really look all that concerned, "So?"
"Potter... do you know what happens when you don't unbind yourself from something within the allotted time?" Draco asked slowly.
"No, what?"
That explained a bit. "You die from the Curse. It will overtake your body and soul. And if this is one of those really powerful Curses, every month it will get harder to overcome."
Potter paled, "Die?"
"Yes, die."
They sat in silence, both thinking their own thoughts. They unconsciously drew towards each other as they became lost in thought. Draco found himself wondering what Potter was thinking. Did he realize the full power of the Curse now? No, most likely not. Potter had always been a bit dense though. Draco prayed to whatever gods were out there that this was not a powerful ancient Curse. It was ancient, he was sure of that, but he didn't know if it would become more difficult to overcome. In his research he had read of a few cases of these such Curses... and the results had not been pretty.
Finally, he broke the silence, "Potter?"
"Yes, Malfoy?" Potter's face was still drawn and pale.
"Are you... okay?" His brows creased, as he watched Potter breathing in shallowly, looking more and more pale.
"What do you think Malfoy?! You've just informed me that I am going to DIE in less than half a year!" he sounded crazed. "So, no Malfoy, I am NOT okay!" And with this, he fell forward.
Draco caught him just before he hit the ground. "Stage one of a powerful Curse," he recited from memory. "Faintness and mood swings."
He lowered Potter to the ground slowly, checking for a pulse. Surely enough, the boy had just fainted randomly. From his knowledge of Potter, he was not really that easily put down. It had to be the doing of the Curse. Draco shook his head, and ran his hand through his silvery blonde hair. What was he going to do? Obviously he and Potter were not going to be able to do this alone.
"Potter?" He shook the raven haired boy. Then more loudly, "Potter!"
Suddenly, the other boy opened his eyes, and they were dazzling emerald green. Greener than any eyes he had ever seen. Draco thought they were beautiful. He wanted to get closer to them, to see what was beyond them. Was Harry this beautiful inside? At this thought, he dropped the other boy abruptly. Harry?! Oh shit. This binding thing was bad. It was very bad.
Potter squeezed his eyes shut in pain when his head hit the cold, hard floor of the classroom. He sat up slowly, touching the back of his head gingerly, "What was that for Malfoy!?"
"Nothing," Draco felt his carefully erected barriers from emotion resume their positions. "I have to go now."
"Umm... okay," Har- Potter! looked confused.
"Goodbye," Draco said as he exited the room.
What was going on!? He had to get to the library to research this. There had to be some reaction caused by the binding or something. He had certainly never thought those things before! He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the thoughts that plagued him. It could wait for tomorrow. So, Draco Malfoy, servant of Evil, went back to the cold dungeons, away from the Curse and the binding.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Evil watched from above, as the Curse failed to defeat the binding. At least it had kicked in at the end there. The binding was powerful Magick, and it was fighting it's own ancient Curse brilliantly. Evil had been in bad spirits ever since this had been discovered. But, there was more Magick to be had before this was done, and there was a nagging that said the binding was not fully Seamus Malfoy's doing.
"Good!" Evil called, completely in a huff.
The Good glided towards the Evil calmly and serenely as usual. "Yes?"
"You have been interfering again!" Evil accused, pointing a bony finger at the Good.
"I have no idea what you could possibly be talking about," said the Good, looking completely innocent, it's eyes transfixed on a particularly interesting cloud form.
"Yes you do! You gave Seamus Malfoy the binding powers! Don't lie to me…" The Good had never been good at lying.
"Oh alright, so I gave Seamus a bit more power. He needed it to overcome that ancient Curse of yours. By the way, the binding will defeat that ancient thing," Good said smugly.
"Perhaps," The Evil replied deviously.
The Good did not like that look. "What do you have up your sleeve Evil?"
"A spider or two," Evil said, shaking the arm of his robe. Two black spiders fell out and scurried away.
The Good pulled a face, "Very nice trick."
"I thought so."
"You would"
"Well, yes, I suppose so. I must be going now. I have an appointment with Fate," The Evil said, trying to sound lofty like Good did.
"Anything you say," The Good replied, smirking. "Oh, and by the way, don't ever try to sound like me again."