[A/N – Did you notice the new title? (Kind of. :-p) A big THANK YOU to kittenBabyGirl, who pointed out that I was missing an e in the title. Because I'm a loser who doesn't speak French, and I just used a translator. And she's awesome and corrected it. :-)
I'm updating this with two chapters now, because I'm going on vacation from Friday until the Saturday after and I don't want to keep y'all waiting two weeks for the final chapter.
Yeah, final chapter's the one after this. I suppose I'll have more to say in the note for that, but let's thank the reviewers now.
TheSecretCharacter – Yay, I popped someone's Lucius/Harry cherry. Glad you like it. And I'm especially glad you like the characterization, because it, at times, drove me up a wall to keep Harry in character and shagging Lucius Malfoy. As the two seemed mutually exclusive. Oh, and I love the shackles too. :-) They somehow make their way into waaay too much of my writing, go figure…. Hehe. Here's more for you.
CassandraRaven – Bah, I like your numerous and often-changed pennames. No, really. :-p Glad you like it, and here's another update for you.
treana – Harry has been oscillating between good and evil the entirety of this fic, and I still don't know which he'll choose ultimately. And yes, I felt so very sorry for the mice, but the alternative is practicing on people. :-p Yeah, Draco's not making an appearance in this fic, but. Well. I can't say anymore just yet. :-p Sorry. Glad you like it so far, though. :-)
kittenBabyGirl – Hehe, hopefully you read the first part of the author's note. :-)
DarkWolfyOne – Wow. I'm so flattered. :-) Lucius/Harry is my favorite pairing in the book despite no canonical evidence (if that makes sense…) and I hope the fic does it justice. As for Darker!Harry, well. Harry's not sure which side he wants right now. Lucius had a pretty convincing argument in favor of joining them, but it clashes with his beliefs for the past six years. I don't even know yet how he'll turn out. But here's more for you. :-)
riantlykalopsic – Glad you liked it. This story was the first time I went for a serious, all-out sex scene, and the last chapter was really the big one. Chapter 6 was just a dry run. :-p But yeah, was really worried about how it'd be taken. Glad you approved. :-)
Enola – Heh, you just know that Lucius is into the sort of sex where it's a power exchange. And no, Harry doesn't protest because the entire thing to him is just so damn hot. :-D Voldemort sees the untrained power in Harry, and as such is really really interested on getting him on their side so he doesn't kick all their asses. Harry, being so ardently anti-Dumbledore right now, doesn't see that if he joins the Death Eaters he'll be just as used by them as he is by Albus. He'll come to the conclusion eventually, I suppose. But. Heh, I'm about to say too much. :-) You'll see.
DARKMARK33LV – Heh, I've been trying to keep to a schedule so you all don't die of boredom between long updates. I'm glad you love it so enthusiastically. :-)
Draco MalfoyGirl 16 – Glad you like it, updating. :-)
Sabby-chan Yaoi Fan – Everyone appreciates a good fuck once in a while. :-) They do care about each other, in some odd non-traditional way, but neither of them really have the personality where they'd openly admit it and get all cuddly and cute. So instead to express themselves they just stick to the sex. :-) I wish you the best of luck in finding your acquaintance-with-benefits, and I updated. :-)
---
Lucius wasn't needed at the Ministry that morning – thank god, he had thought with a smile, for he would be too exhausted and satiated and content to wish to do much. So he and Harry slept in, rising around nine-thirty for breakfast.
He noted that Harry crawled out of bed rather gingerly. Lucius tossed him a bathrobe, which he pulled on gratefully. "I'll go and get dressed."
Lucius raised an eyebrow. "It will make breakfast entirely less interesting."
Harry gave him a look, half amused and half unsure, and left.
Lucius dressed lazily, in no hurry to be downstairs. He noticed Harry's glasses on the nightstand, forgotten in his rush to leave. He pocketed them, finished dressing, and went to meet Harry.
He pushed the door open just as Harry had clasped the front of his green turtleneck robes. Lucius handed him his glasses silently and they went downstairs.
They had barely sat down at the dining table when a barn owl tapped at the window.
Lucius frowned slightly and Harry noticed. "What's wrong?"
"I'm not expecting any letters," Lucius explained, "and they're sent to the Ministry unless it's urgent." He pulled the window open, letting the bird inside. It offered him an envelope, which Lucius tossed upon the table. He grabbed a chipped dish from the counter, set aside for the occasion, and filled it with water.
Harry studied the envelope, addressed in charismatic angular writing and sealed with silver wax. He looked closely at the seal, a bumblebee hovering with curiosity around what looked like violets. "Can I open it?"
"No," Lucius replied shortly as he put the dish in front of the owl before turning back to the table. "Let me have it." Harry handed it to him reluctantly, and Lucius removed the seal with a knife. "What could Dumbledore possibly want now?" he asked, half to himself.
Harry looked up sharply. "It's from Dumbledore?"
Lucius resumed eating as he pointed to the seal. "His, personally. So it's not Hogwarts business." He pulled out a cream-colored sheet of paper and unfolded it.
Harry watched with interest. "What does he want?" Lucius quieted him with a single raised finger and scanned the letter. Wordlessly he refolded the paper and continued eating. "Well?" Harry asked impatiently.
"Finish your breakfast."
"Is it about me?"
"Finish your breakfast," Lucius repeated tersely.
"Why would Dumbledore think to look for me here?"
"He's accurate, isn't he?" Lucius shrugged. "However, he is not to know this. You'll be taken to the Dark Lord tonight."
Harry paled. "I'm not ready."
"Nobody ever is, entirely. But you will go tonight nonetheless. We will work more with the dark arts today." Harry nodded.
Lucius reached across the table and squeezed Harry's hand. "You're doing a good thing, you know."
"I know," Harry said quietly, not sounding as though he believed it.
"Potter, what do you want?"
"I don't want any part of any of this," Harry answered.
"That's not an option though. Pity, isn't it? I'll work with you all day to compensate."
"Okay." But he didn't sound as though he was at all looking forward to it.
---
They really did work all day long. Harry looked absolutely drained, but Lucius pushed him harder. The incantations were half-hearted, sometimes so much so that they backfired and Lucius had to cast a hasty finite incantatum. The clock had just struck eight when Harry dropped his wand onto the bloodstained tabletop. "I can't do any more."
"You have to," Lucius answered, thrusting his wand back into his palm. "We'll stop when I allow you to stop. Now, let's go over the Unforgivables; they're important. Imperius?"
"Imperio," Harry murmured. The mouse backflipped.
"Cruciatus."
"Crucio," he said tiredly. The mouse's shrill squeaks no longer even fazed him.
"Killing curse."
He had noted the boy getting progressively paler as the night wore on, but by now his features were chalky and dull. He raised his wand. "Avada Kedavra." The mouse fell, dead, onto the table. At the same time, Harry's knees gave out and he wilted to the floor.
Lucius scooped him up and carried him to the kitchen. He dropped Harry into a chair and pulled out a bottle. "Sir?" a house elf asked uncertainly, unaccustomed to seeing him in the kitchen.
"Just stay out of the way." He poured brandy into a glass, pressing it to Harry's lips. The boy's eyelashes fluttered, and he squirmed. He wrapped his hands around the glass tentatively. "Sip it," Lucius instructed him as he pulled up a chair opposite.
Harry complied. "Don't make me do anymore," he begged.
Lucius shrugged. "If you feel prepared."
"I guess." Harry set the glass down and rose from his seat. "I need to go wash up or something."
Lucius waved a permissive hand. "We'll be leaving at ten."
---
"Potter? Are you ready?" Lucius called from downstairs. Harry checked his appearance in a mirror one last time, and reluctantly pushed the door open. You're doing a good thing, he reminded himself. It's in your best interest. He was going to be sick.
Lucius was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, and smiled when Harry descended the steps. "Let's go." He slipped his hand into Harry's and they left the manor.
Harry shivered when the cool air licked his skin. Lucius led him to a stone statue of a snake hidden in the shadows. "Hold on tight," he warned as he pressed both his and Harry's palms to the stone. Harry felt the familiar jerk of a Portkey and a blur of colors flashed before him.
They reappeared in a hollowed tree trunk, big enough to accommodate a dozen people. Harry felt a spiderweb brush his cheeks, and scrubbed at them viciously. Lucius, however, looked entirely at ease, and led him into a clearing.
Harry looked around uneasily, and Lucius laughed. "We have a while to walk." They entered a grove of trees. "You're not having second thoughts, are you?"
Harry looked up into those cool gray eyes. "It doesn't matter if I am or not, does it?"
"I'll take that as a yes." Harry was pulled closer; he neither struggled nor returned the touch. "Potter?"
"What?"
"You're shaking."
"Don't worry about it." Harry pulled back. "I'm just cold."
"Mm." He turned sharply, disappearing into thick foliage. Harry followed.
"Where are we going?"
Lucius looked back at him. "That's a stupid question," he remarked.
"I mean…." Harry trailed off. "Where, physically, are we going?"
"I don't know," Lucius replied shortly. "The Dark Lord never meets with a Death Eater twice in the same location. This way."
For not knowing where he was going, Lucius strode rather confidently through the forest; Harry often had to jog a few paces to catch up. He was beginning to wonder if he was merely being led in circles when Lucius stopped. "In here."
The air felt icy and smothering, and Harry was reluctant to blame it on his imagination. Lucius pushed him into a clearing, and Harry shot him an irritated look. But Lucius's gaze was elsewhere.
"My Lord," Lucius greeted.
Voldemort stood, a gaunt silhouette, in the center of the clearing. "Lucius," he returned. "Harry." He looked up at Lucius. "It looks as though everything went smoothly," he remarked. "Here, of his own volition, even. I must admit, I am impressed."
Harry looked back in confusion at Lucius, who took him by the shoulders. "Everything was planned beforehand. You fell into it perfectly."
"Everything?" Harry repeated numbly.
Lucius chuckled. "Every single detail," he purred, sliding his hands down Harry's body, "right down to our – "
"No!" Harry pushed Lucius away forcefully, angry at this new revelation.
"You may leave now, Lucius," Voldemort said in a bored tone. "Your presence is flustering him."
"Yes, my Lord," Lucius answered obediently with a quick bow. "He disappeared again into the forest, leaving Harry standing, alone, in front of the Dark Lord.
"Harry. I can't tell you how pleased I am that you have decided to join the Death Eaters. It will be such an honor to have the Boy-Who-Lived among us."
"I'm not doing it for you," Harry spat back.
Voldemort took Harry's jaw in cold, reptilian hands. "But you see, everything done by Death Eaters is done for me. Those who do not end up dead. Now hold still." He withdrew his wand from a pocket and took Harry's left arm. "This will hurt. And you will be killed if you scream."
He touched his wand to Harry's skin, causing an unpleasant jolt up his arm and traced the Dark Mark into his forearm. Harry bit down on his lip, harder as the pain increased. He broke the skin, staining the inside of his mouth with the metallic taste of blood. But still he didn't make a sound. The gaunt skull was completed, flesh red and raw.
Tears burned at the back of his eyes, and he was ready to collapse, but he stood motionless as Voldemort carefully sketched the snake. His head pounded and his arm was nearly completely numb. Still he watched as the wand seared his skin.
Voldemort deliberately lifted his wand. "It's over." He turned to leave, and feeling abruptly returned to Harry's arm. He grabbed his wrist, screamed, and collapsed to his knees. Then time shattered.