Chapter 11

"Aine!" Draco sat down beside the Gryffindor girl, sighing in relief from having found her.

The brunette looked up from her book, eyebrow raised. "Draco?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Ye are talkin' te me." Aine said.

"Don't be facetious." Draco said. "It's important."

Aine sighed. "Wha', Draco?"

"I got a letter from my father today." Draco ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "He's coming here."

"I care why?" Aine asked.

"You don't understand, Aine! He knows you've got Fae blood. And he's coming here to see if it's worth taking you back with him to Voldemort."

"Well tha's jest great." Aine said sarcastically. "I can only imagine tha' conversation. ' 'Ello, Aine, my name's Lord Voldemort. Would ye like te join me?' 'No, but thanks fer askin'. I'll jest be on my way now.' Fabulous."

"It's not like I can help it!"

"Sure ye can'. An' 'oo told 'im abou' me anyway, 'mm?"

"Not me." Draco denied. "Father has a spy somewhere in the castle. It's not just my moves he's interested in anymore. When you arrived...you brought attention to the fact that you're Fae. Father knows that people with Fae blood are rare and powerful enough that he will take you to Voldemort if he has the chance."

"D'ye think I meant fer Voldemort te become interested in me?" Aine had to admit this comment wasn't exactly true, she had wanted to find Voldemort.

Draco sighed. "Whether you wanted to or not, Aine, you're in trouble. If Voldemort doesn't find you useful he won't hesitate to kill you."

"Draco, 'e can' kill me. I'm na...it's very 'ard te kill me."

"Right." Draco snorted.

Aine sighed and took a slim iron knife out of her pocket. She pressed it to her wrists, hissing slightly as it not only cut into her skin but burnt it as well.

The Fae couldn't touch iron, and being a Changeling with Fae blood was almost as bad.

She took the knife away and watched the wounds heal themselves, though the iron-blistered skin didn't heal, leaving Aine with red burn marks on her wrists.

"What?" Draco asked.

"Curse." Aine said crisply. "I am cursed te live until I have repaid my debts to the mortal world. Can ye 'eal my wrists fer me, please? The iron sucks out my magic fer a while."

"Sure," he said, his usual cool composure once again shattering because of this tiny girl. "Evira."

There was a flash of blue light, and Aine's wrists were returned to their former unflawed state. "Thank ye." She said.

Draco nodded dumbly, eyes focused on the pale blue veins that traced Aine's skin. He wanted to latch onto her pulse point and – Draco ruthlessly stamped out that train of thought. What was so bewitching about this girl who had been blessed with invulnerability? "You don't understand, Aine." He said again. "You're even more valuable to Voldemort now, invincible as you are."

"Oh, I'm na invincible, Draco." Aine contradicted. "I can be 'urt. An' I can die."

"You can?"

"Aye. I jest 'ave te 'ave Lady Brigid's permission te do so."

"This is no time for jokes, Aine. When I say you're in danger I mean you're in danger."

"I know. I believe ye. But tha' does na mean I'm worried. They can torture me as much as they like, I'd never join 'em. I'm firmly on the side o' the Light. Ye don' 'ave te worry abou' tha'." Aine said patiently.

"Aine, I'm not worried about the side of the Light, or the side of the Dark." Draco replied hotly. "They can fight each other 'til kingdom come as far as I'm concerned. I'm worried about you. I don't want you getting hurt. You're all I care about. Everyone else can go fuck 'emselves."

Aine was surprised by his vehemence, and touched. She stepped closer to him and stroked the side of his face gently. "Oh, Draco," she sighed, kissing him softly on the cheek, "thank ye. Tha' was one o' the nicest things anyone 'as ever said te me."

Draco's cheeks coloured slightly. "Yeah, well, don't expect it." He said gruffly. "I'm already ruining my reputation by talking to you."

Aine giggled and took his hand in hers. "Then let's go somewhere we're less likely te be seen."

Lucius stepped out of the fire, brushing his robes off as he did so.

"Ah, Lucius, so nice to see you again." Albus Dumbledore said smoothly.

"You too, Albus. It's been too long." Lucius returned Albus's smile with a cool twitch of his lips. Barmy old coot. He sneered inwardly.

"For what reason have we been blessed with your presence?"

"Does a man need a reason to visit his son? I was unavoidably detained over his summer holidays so I decided to come and visit him."

Albus's eyes twinkled. "If only there were more fathers like you, Lucius. The world would be a much better place. I'll tell Dobby to have tea waiting for you in Severus's office. I'm sure you remember the way."

"Of course." Lucius said, struggling to keep up the façade and not curse Albus for that comment about Dobby. "Good day, Albus." He swept out of Albus's office.

It was like stepping back in time. Lucius mused. Right over there, by the statue of Gregory the Gregarious, he and Crabbe Sr. had rearranged Alice Reme's face when she befriended that mudblood Lily Evans. And over there, by the portrait of Dorian Grey, that mudblood lover Black and his cronies had been given detention when Lucius turned McGonagall's hair pink. Of course the smarmy Gryffindors had gotten revenge by framing Lucius for those graphic Valentines sent to Mudblood Evans. He still hadn't heard the end of it at the reunions.

"Uncle Lucius!"

Lucius looked down at the small dark-haired witch hugging his legs. "Hello, Andromeda." He said. "How are you, my dear?" He was rewarded with a gap-toothed smile from the Bellatrix's daughter, the youngest Lestrange.

"I'm good." She said. "Did you get my letter?"

Lucius knelt down to his niece's level, careful not to soil his black silk robes. "Yes I did. That's the reason I came."

The Ravenclaw first-year's smile brightened. "Really?" She asked. "Cool! Well, I saw Draco with Fey earlier this afternoon in the Library. They might still be there."

"Draco didn't go to lunch?" Lucius asked.

Andromeda shook her curly head. "Nope. And neither did Fey, I heard the Weasley girl asking if anyone had seen her."

Lucius's blood ran cold at the thought of the youngest Weasley. If Voldemort ever found out about what had happened to his diary, and he, Lucius's part in it, there was going to be trouble. "Thank you, my dear." He said. "Perhaps we can have tea in Hogsmeade once I'm done visiting Draco."

Andromeda's blue eyes shone. "I'd love that!" She said,

Lucius chuckled. Such an innocent little girl. It was rather good luck that she'd been brought up by Andromeda Tonks and Ted Tonks. It made her the perfect little tool. She had no idea that she was a spy, or that everything she told Lucius was useful. She idolised Draco as well, which made it easier for her to find things out about him. "Very well. I'll meet you in the you in the Entrance Hall at six o'clock."

"Ok!" The little girl skipped down the corridor.

Still chuckling slightly, Lucius changed direction, heading towards the Library.

Once he got there, Lucius looked around. Where could Draco be?

"May I help you?" A cool voice asked.

Lucius turned to look at the short Librarian. She had iron-grey hair and her mouth was screwed up like she'd recently eaten a lemon. "Hello," he said smoothly, "My name is Lucius Ma-"

"I know who you are." The lady interrupted. "Now what do you want?"

Lucius's wand hand twitched slightly, and he gripped his cane. "I merely wanted to know if my son Draco is in here. I wish to speak with him."

Lip curling, the irritating woman pointed to the back of the Library. "He's down there." She said. "Now, if that's all, I'll get back to work." She glared at him once more, and turned around, pointedly presenting her back to him.

Feeling as though he could quite happily murder the woman with his bare hands, magic be damned, Lucius headed down to the back of the Library.
"Ok, so we know Aine's got Fae blood in her. And that she's a Changeling. And that she's related to Luna. Should we tell Dumbledore?" Ron asked.

Harry shook his head. "Most likely he already knows." He pointed out. "And why should we tell him even if he doesn't? He never tells us anything."

Hermione opened her mouth do disagree, but was interrupted by Ginny.

"Harry's right." She said, her brown eyes flashing. "Why should we tell him? It's not like he'd tell us, even if he did know. It's about time he got a taste of his own medicine. Besides, we should keep everything on a need-to-know basis."

The red-haired fifth-year's words gave Harry a wamr feeling in the pit of his stomach, not unlike that which he experienced after drinking butterbeer. It was nice to know that someone cared. "So, now that we've decided not to tell Dumbledore, and we know that Aine's agreed to meet Ginny and Hermione in Hogsmeade on Saturday, what else do we need to do?"

"What about Malfoy?" Ron asked. "Aine's been spending a lot of time with him."

The Gryffindor Quartet looked at each other in horror as they realised the truth of Ron's words.
Lucius was surprised to see his son locked in a passionate embrace with a girl who couldn't be more than twelve years old. "Draco?" He asked.

Draco and the girl jumped apart, looking up at him with identical astonished silver eyes. So, this was Aine Fey then.

Draco recovered first. "Father?!"

Aine Fey smoothing her robes and hair back into place. " 'Ello," she said, her voice tinged with an Irish accent, "my name's Aine Fey."

Lucius bowed slightly. "Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father."

"Nice te meet ye." The girl said.

"And you, Miss Fey." Lucius replied smoothly.

The silver-eyes Gryffindor looked at him sceptically, but didn't say anything.

"Father," Draco began, "why are you here?"

Lucius wasn't fooled. His owl, Merde, had arrived back at Malfoy Manor this morning, and wouldn't have given Draco's letter to anyone but Draco. Therefore, his son obviously didn't want his little girlfriend to know about the letter. Well, he'd play along for now. "I wish to speak with you, Draco. There are refreshments in Professor Snape's office. You must be hungry, since you missed lunch. After the meeting, perhaps you and Miss Fey would like to go to dinner with me. I'd like to get to know your girlfriend better."

Draco and the girl exchanged a look.

"I'd like tha'," said Aine.

"Ok, Father," Draco agreed. "See you later, Aine."

Aine smiled softly. "See ye, Dray." She walked away gracefully.

Lucius waited until the brunette had turned the corner before glaring at his son. "You didn't tell me you were fucking her, Draco."

Draco flinched. "I'm not, Father." He said tightly.

So, this girl was special to him then. "You're going out with a girl who won't have sex with you, of questionable origins, who just so happens to be in Gryffindor. Draco, I am not pleased. Your mother won't be either."

The look Draco sent him was pure defiance.

Struggling to control his temper, Lucius gripped Draco by the back of his colla, and practically dragged his wayward son to Severus's office.
searching4romeo: I'd love to read some of your work sometime. You could email it to me if you didn't want anyone else to read it. My email's Thanks so much for the review. Once again, you were the only person to do so. sigh Nobody loves me anymore! I recently reread OOTP, so that's why I'm fully into the Dumbledore bashing in this chapter.