"Anyone can hate – it costs to love." (John Williamson)
Lucius and Eleanor apparated in front of Malfoy Manor around dusk. The wizard had insisted on enchanting the portkey for them as a test of his restored abilities and now looked at his new wand with some satisfaction, before he slid it back into its cane sheath. Just then they heard the agonized scream of a woman around the side of the house. "Draco! Narcissa!" cried the wizard and sped off in the direction of the voice. Eleanor grabbed her wand, gathered her robes and ran after him around the south wing of the manor. She stopped short when she rounded the building and saw the gathering of people on the lawn behind the house.
Draco stood rooted to the spot on the round gravel bed in the center of the garden. He held out his wand and supported himself with his left on the stone sun-dial next to him. A tall, black-robed figure threatened him with pointed wand. At his feet lay a grey-clad bundle that Eleanor assumed had to be either Tethering or Greenleaf. A few paces away a woman in flowing robes pleaded with outstretched arms. "No, don't harm him! Please!"
"He is the warlock's son. He must die, sister." Eleanor recognized the slightly hoarse voice of Bellatrix Lestrange. The Death Eater lifted her wand and began to intone the killing spell. The other witch ran forwards with a shrill shriek to intervene, and at the same moment Lucius dashed towards them with a roar of fury. Rooted to the spot and too far away to help or hinder, Eleanor watched as green fire broke from Bellatrix' wand and hit Draco squarely in the chest. "Oh gods, no!" she groaned, only to feel a sudden rush of cold air behind her and hear a dark chuckle that reminded her very much of Lucius.
She whipped around and stared into the gleaming grey eyes of the younger Malfoy. "Snape's right. It bloody works," he grinned, but then clutched at her as he saw the deadly spell pass right through the imago and a few stray tendrils of it enwrap Narcissa who had now approached close enough. She screamed and fell just as Lucius reached her.
The wizard didn't even pause to check on her. Eleanor heard a bellowed "Crucio!" and then Bellatrix went down with a horrible cry of pain. Draco didn't bother to reapparate in the place of the imago, which now slowly began to fade, but simply sped towards the prone figure of his mother and Eleanor followed him. She found the young wizard crouched on the ground cradling Narcissa's head. She knelt down next to him.
"She's breathing," he called out to her over the horrible screams that tore from the tortured body of his aunt. "Put some invigorating spells on her," Eleanor shouted back. "Keep talking to her. Keep her conscious." She got up and warily approached Lucius, who towered over the body of his victim, every ounce of his hatred focused through his wand and pouring into the howling woman at his feet.
She clenched her teeth as she regarded him. In all her time with him, she had never seen him like this, and she was for once truly terrified of him. It seemed he had cast off the outer shell she'd known for all these years to reveal a terrible spirit burning within him that shone with a blindingly painful inhuman light. His dark robes billowed around him as if stirred by the force of an inner gale, and his blond hair poured over his shoulders like white-hot liquid flame.
"Lucifer," she whispered recognizing the force that pulsed through him, and then, gathering what was left of her courage and will-power, she put her hand on his arm. He felt as rigid as if he had been cast from steel, with a current of pure fury humming through him. She had never felt raw magical energy like it and staggered under the impact.
Slowly he moved his head from the Death Eater and looked at her. It seemed to take an eternity before she saw the spark of recognition in the glowing depths of his eyes. His nostrils flared as he regarded her, still holding his concentration and the curse and then slowly he opened his mouth, his voice a strained hiss, barely audible over the screams. "You love me? This is who I am. Leave me be!"
His words cut through her and she tore her hand from his arm, taking a horrified step back from him. "Help them! Secure the house. Defend my son!" he called out to her, then bent his will back to Bellatrix. As she turned to leave she heard him incant a new curse. "Discoriatio!" She averted her head and stopped her ears, sobbing in shock. Lucius had decided to flay his sister-in-law alive.
Just then she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye, and as she whirled round she realized that Bellatrix had not come alone after all. The Death Eater who approached them with lifted wand was cut down by a sharp command, however, and as Eleanor tracked the path of the spell that had stopped him, she saw Advocatus Tethering step out at her through a gap in one of the boxwood hedges.
"I think that's the last of them," he said calmly as he approached her sheathing his wand, apparently unfazed by the horrible screaming that filled the garden and that now slowly deteriorated into gurgling animal noises removed from anything remotely human.
He blinked as he saw the expression on Eleanor's face and shrugged his shoulders. "He's just having a bit of fun. He sometimes goes off like that. It'll be over, soon," he said. "We'll just have to get rid of the body later, or the aurors will be shitting kittens. Malfoy's toys never look pretty when he's done with them."
The witch swallowed. "How many are there – were there?" she asked. "Oh, Bellatrix and two others. I did a location spell to confirm. One of them got Greenleaf, but I think he's still alive, little useless twerp. I petrified that one when he was busy cursing the advocatus. He's in the rose bushes over there. The other kept back, until now. How's everyone else?"
Eleanor dug her nails into the palms of her hands. She wanted nothing more than to silence Bellatrix, to kill her, to make the noises stop. How could Tethering talk to her as if they were having a polite conversation over scones and tea? She fought down her strong impulse to yell at him and focused. "Narcissa's got a slight dose of the avada. Draco is fine," she said tersely and turned on her heel.
She tried not to look at Lucius as she rejoined his son and crouched down next to him. "How is she," she asked. Draco turned his head towards her. "Still there," he said. He looked pale and frightened. "You talked to father?" He looked uncomfortable now. Eleanor took a deep breath. "He has unfinished business with your aunt," she explained. "Try to concentrate on your mother, Draco. She needs you right now. He doesn't."
She laid her hand on Narcissa's chest to feel for signs of life, and the woman opened unfocused pale blue eyes. "You!" she hissed. Eleanor lowered her head. "You took him." "No, Mrs. Black." "You took him from me!" The accusation stung, untrue as it might be. "No one can take from you what you truly possess," she said quietly. "He had stopped being with you long before I met him. I merely picked up what was already discarded."
She realized suddenly that it was possible to hear oneself speak again. The garden around them had turned deadly quiet. A moment later she felt movement at her side. Lucius was kneeling down next to her. The coppery scent of blood that rose from his robes sent a wave of dizziness over her and she lifted her head to look at him.
His pale mask-like face and hair shimmered strangely in the rising darkness, but his eyes that briefly met hers looked human and focused again. He held her gaze for a moment, giving her a curt nod. Then he reached over to his son. Eleanor saw that his hand was spattered with blood. "Are you all right, Draco? Are you injured?" his voice sounded strained and urgent. "I'm, I'm fine, father. Aunt Bellatrix, is she…?" Lucius eyes flared up at his son. "Never speak her name again to me. Do you hear me! Never!" The younger Malfoy cringed. "Yes, father," he said quietly.
Lucius looked up. "Marcellus," he called. "Get rid of the body for me. Call the healers. And by Azrael, for once, keep the damn aurors away from me!" Eleanor heard the advocatus' reply from a short distance. "I'll take care of it Mr. Malfoy."
At the sound of Lucius' voice Narcissa opened her eyes again. "Lucius," she whispered. The blond wizard reached out and took his wife's hand in his, leaving bloodstains on her light robes. "I'm here," he said calmly. "Why?" she asked, her voice a pained whisper. "Why does it end this way?" He regarded her and Eleanor could see neither love nor hate in his eyes, just a great dull weariness. "It was your will," he told her. She shook her head. "I never wanted this," she said. "That's a pity," he replied but his voice remained neutral, pitiless. He lifted his head for a moment. "You never knew what you really wanted, Narcissa. And it was unfortunate that when our fathers decided our fate for us, neither did I."
He placed her hand back on her chest in a gesture that seemed strangely final. "We should never have been forced together. Take back of your life what you can. Truth be told, seeing you ready to risk your life for my son, I can bear you no ill-will, despite your actions over the last few weeks, and I will always be thankful to you for giving me Draco." He paused for a moment. "For his sake, see him if you will and if he wants to. I do not forbid it. But I will not speak to you again. Just one last thing remains."
Narcissa's eyes had traveled over to her son, and she smiled at Draco, who had touched her shoulder. Now she focused back on Lucius. "What?" she asked him. "Your wedding band. Give it back to me. It was my mother's and you do not deserve to bear it any more." The witch's eyes narrowed and her lips curled in a sneer. "You and the damn Malfoy name and property, that's all that's ever mattered to you. If you want it, take it!" she dared him.
Eleanor looked over to Lucius. For a moment he stilled, his only movement a brief twitch of his jaw. Then he bent forwards, lifted his wife's left hand and with one swift movement stripped a filigreed gold band flecked with the green spark of emeralds off her finger. He replaced her hand with surprising gentleness and got up in one fluid movement. "Farewell, Narcissa," they heard his quiet voice from above. Then he turned away from them with a soft rustle of his robes.
A moment later they were alerted by the cracks of several apparitions around them. "Lumos," cried a voice, and swift steps hurried over to them. Two robed figures knelt down and Eleanor described to the mediwizards what had happened. They immediately busied themselves with the injured witch, and Eleanor laid a hand on Draco's shoulder. "Come on," she told him quietly. "Let's not get in the way. They'll take good care of your mother. Perhaps you can go to the hospital with them later, if you wish and your father allows it." Reluctantly the younger Malfoy got up and allowed her to lead him a short distance away.
Eleanor saw another two healers busy with the unconscious Mr. Greenleaf. She walked over to them. "Is he alive?" she asked. A woman looked up at her. "Barely," she said. "A bad case of some weird bone-breaking spell I have never seen before. These Death Eaters are a sick bunch, really! Are there any other injured?" For a moment Eleanor thought about Bellatrix and with bile rising in her throat, she shook her head. She was used to lying for Lucius by now and the words came over her lips with no effort. "No, no one else you can help. There are two petrified Death Eaters, but they are not injured."
She turned away and looked around her. She was finally alone. A full summer moon had risen behind the dark walls of the manor and now illuminated the garden with gentle, silvery light. Tethering was talking to two aurors who busied themselves with securing the two remaining Death Eaters. Draco had returned to his mother and hovered anxiously around the mediwizards who were now carefully levitating her body onto a stretcher. She took a deep breath and realized she shivered violently. Even hugging herself did not seem to help.
For the last few weeks, she hardly had time to think. All her energies had gone into saving her lover with barely a moment of focus on herself, and she had succeeded. Lucius was back, reinstated as a wizard and as Lord of Malfoy Manor.
During their struggle, and after six years of rigid self-control, she had at long last allowed herself to confess her feelings for him. And tonight she had finally seen the true nature of the man she professed to love. She had come face to face with what she had tried to protect herself from during all this time. He had shown her, and in the midst of his vicious, murdering fury, he had asked for her acceptance. 'You love me? This is who I am,' she heard him say again.
She shook her head, remembering her own words. 'I love you. I always have.' "Triple goddess," she whispered to herself. "Help me. How can I?" Suddenly hands grasped her shoulders from behind and she jumped in shock. His voice was next to her ear and she felt herself cringe in fear.
"I would," he murmured savagely. "No matter what you did. No matter who you were. No matter what I learned about you. I always will." She turned around and faced him, ready to confront him in anger, when she saw the wet glint of moonlight in his eyes. He raised his head, his jaw jutting out in defiance. "I would have done the same for you as I did for Draco. No one threatens those I love – ever. And my revenge will be as terrible as my hatred."
"'No one provokes me unpunished,'" she quoted, looking up at him in understanding. "No one," he confirmed. He wrapped his hands around her arms, shook her for emphasis. "You told me you had always loved me. You trust your memories, your experience, you love what you know. You still don't take risks." He paused, and she realized he needed to stop to collect himself, to keep his voice from breaking.
"Who do you love? Me, or the man you think I am, the man you wish I was?" She closed her eyes, felt tears welling up. "You," she whispered. "I am trying to love you." "But you are afraid of me." She nodded. "Yes, Lucius."
To her surprise he smiled. "As you should be," he said. "As I am mortally afraid of you. You could destroy me with one breath, one word, you know? We could annihilate each other. Love is the most powerful magic of all. It is dangerous. It is deadly. Yet I trust you." He looked at her. "I will never harm you," he said fiercely.
She finally managed to bring herself to touch him back. "You never have," she told him quietly. "I believe you, because of my memories. I trust you, because of what I know about you. Perhaps I can come to terms with the man I saw tonight, because of our past. But I need time. You are safe now. So is Draco. I need to get back to Durmstrang. I have to…"
"No!" he interrupted her. His grip on her tightened to almost painful intensity. "No more running, Eleanor! If you love me, stay with me. I need you." He paused, bit his lips. "I have no one left if you go." To her surprise she felt his hands relax, however, and he actually released her, as if he was giving her a choice after all. "Please stay." He looked at her, took a deep breath and stepped back. "But I will love you, even if you go," he said.
For a moment her will hung in the balance, then she heard swift steps appear behind her. "Father," called Draco. "Can I go to St. Mungo's with mother if Advocatus Tethering is coming with me?" 'No one left,' she thought. She bridged the small gap between herself and Lucius and laid her arm around his hips as he turned to answer his son.