Loyalties of a Potions Master

"All is not well. I doubt some foul play. Would the night were come! Till then sit still, my soul. Foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes."(William Shakespeare. Hamlet. I, ii)

"What!" Lucius had turned deathly pale and did not release his grip on the auror's robes. "Who's in charge here? How could this happen?"

The Ministry wizard looked quite worried how. "The Unforgivable Maddock is in command. We don't know what happened yet. As a matter of fact, Mr. Belisarius and his companion raised the alarm. They found Miss Pucey."

Eleanor saw Lucius shake with barely suppressed fury. "Get me Maddock, this instance!" He pushed the auror out of his way and strode forward, calling to some of the other green-clad officials. "Detain everyone for statements. No one leaves! Where is Belisarius?" Eleanor followed him, feeling cold and shaken at the terrible news.

At the other side of the hall they found the imposing figure of the senior partner of the law firm among a cluster of guests and aurors. He talked to the Unspeakable in charge. A dark-clad, slender woman with raven-black hair stood by his side.

"Gaius, what the hell happened?" shouted Lucius as soon as he approached, and Eleanor watched Belisarius turn. She recognized the woman by his side as the vampire Desdemona, his lover and assistant.

Instead of her boss, it was her that answered.

"Lucius," she smiled, her red lips pulling back from her ivory fangs. "Always a particular pleasure to see you! Thank you for inviting me. I was in the garden when I found your son's little friend – such a pretty girl, very graceful neck. Seems Draco fought someone near where she lay. The ground had been torn up and there was blood on the grass." Her nostrils flared briefly at her mention of blood and her tone seemed rather teasing.

The blond wizard, however, was in no mood for games. He grabbed the vampire by her shoulders. "What were you doing in the garden? How do you know it was Draco who was involved in the fight? Answer me!"

With sinuous grace she wound herself out of his grip. "Why, my dear, smelling the flowers, of course, I would hardly be so ill mannered as to hunt your guests. And as to the blood, do you think I would no longer recognize the scent of Malfoy blood? I remember its exquisite taste quite well from our little games, as you should recall."

Everyone surrounding them now craned their necks to listen in. Any story involving the Lord of Malfoy Manor and a vampire should make for extremely juicy gossip. Lucius didn't take her bait. "What else can you tell us? Speak!"

Desdemona shrugged her alabaster shoulders and stepped back to stand next to her master. She clearly enjoyed the exchange and Lucius' desperate dependence on her for information. "Like you, my dear, I was too late to see what happened."

She shook back her hair and tilted her head as she regarded the wizard. Her nostrils flared as if she was just catching a scent of something. Her next words dripped with contempt. "You know, if you hadn't been busy screwing her, you would probably have been able to protect your son. The stink of it is still on you both."

A second later a loud slap echoed through the ball-room. Belisarius lowered his hand as the vampire was staggering under the blow of a powerful hit to her face. "That is enough!" said the advocatus, his face stony and expressionless.

Desdemona straightened herself, licking her own blood from her split lip in obvious pleasure. "No one defeats the Dark Lord. We children of the night know," she smiled. "Take care of yourself, Lucius." A moment later an empty black gown rustled to the floor and a small grey bat disappeared through the open door and into the dark night air.

"Hold her," hollered Maddock, but it was too late. A few aurors rushed over to the windows, but the rest of the group just watched Lucius, who now ran his long, pale hands through his hair.

"I apologize for her rudeness," said Belisarius. "She will be punished, of course."

The blond wizard sighed. "It wasn't her," he said tiredly. "But I need to check something else." He turned to his wife. "Eleanor, please stay with the aurors, have them show you the spot where the abduction happened. Find out anything you can for me. I need to leave you for a moment."

She laid her hand on his arm. "Lucius…" she began, but he cut her short, his voice low and fierce.

"If you love me, do this for me. Help me. Don't second-guess me. I need to be able to rely on you now, and I need your trust and your strength."

He didn't wait for an answer from her, but turned on his heel and left them. The last Eleanor heard as she concentrated on the Unspeakable was her husband's commanding voice calling for the house elves to bring him his serpent cane with his wand.


About twenty minutes later Eleanor found herself alone in a quiet corner of the Silver Hall. Most guests had disapparated in the general panic and confusion. The realization that Death Eaters had been in their very midst and might very well still be prowling the Manor grounds had scared almost everyone off, despite the aurors' attempts to detain people for questioning.

Unspeakable Maddock seemed very upset about the loss of witnesses, but Eleanor had reminded him that they had a guest list and could still catch up with everyone over the next few days should that prove necessary. She doubted very much that they would find any witnesses to the abduction. Her examination of the garden in the company of the aurors had convinced her that the attack had been well planned and executed, and until Miss Pucey had been revived they would not make any progress with the investigation.

Detection spells had turned up nothing, and aside from some trampled grass and a little blood that turned out to be really Draco's they had no leads. Marigold had accompanied a few aurors that had transported Miss Pucey to the hospital and would take a statement as soon as she could. The three Durmstrang teachers seemed to have vanished in the general confusion. Eleanor could hardly blame them.

She noted out of the corner of her eye that Cornelia and Armand had stayed. Both talked to Belisarius, Tethering and some aurors near one of the windows. It seemed the Malfoys had some sense of family loyalty after all.

'Lucius!' she thought suddenly. She had done everything he had asked of her, tried to discover everything she could. It was time she looked him up and found out why he'd had to leave so suddenly.

She pulled her wand from her dress and murmured a quick location spell. Lucius was still in the Manor, in a small, seldom used storage room in the north wing. Shaking her head in confusion at the strange location she gathered her skirts, looked around if anyone was paying any attention and snuck out of the ball room. She felt it would be unwise to have anyone note her absence or even follow her.

Her sudden urge for secrecy prevented her from lighting her wand and she had to admit she felt spooked by her passage through the dark, echoing corridors of the ancient house. Strange rustlings and whispers accompanied her on her path and once or twice she halted in a defensive stance, wand at the ready. No one challenged her, however, and she quickly proceeded, until the muffled noise of shouting made her freeze in mid-step.

She thought she briefly recognized Lucius' voice, then a hoarse cry of pain cut him off. "Hecate," she murmured, suddenly feeling foolish for having slipped away all alone. If the Death Eaters were still around she would confront them without any backup.

Eleanor swallowed, gripped her wand and murmured a protection spell, then she rushed towards the source of the voices crossing the last few yards of darkened hallways. A moment later she had thrown open an old, heavy oak door and froze at the unlikely sight that met her eyes.

Lucius towered over the figure of a dark-haired man in black robes, who lay as a crumpled heap on the floor. His wand was pointed at his victim and she heard his voice. "You would be dead, if I didn't think you held the key to Draco's whereabouts. Speak, you traitor! I will kill you eventually! Cru-…"

He whirled around at the sound of the opening door and now jabbed his wand at the intruder. Eleanor barely recognized him under his mask of desperate fury. For a moment his pale eyes did not seem to take in who she was, and she felt almost sure that the cruciatus he had begun to incant would hit her. Then he lowered his wand with a gasp.

"You!" he said accusingly. "I told you not to follow me."

Eleanor craned her neck trying to get a glimpse of the man on the floor.

"You told me to find out everything about the abduction. I did that. You did not forbid me from searching for you. What are you doing? Who is this?"

"Leave!" he snarled, but she stood her ground.

"You asked me to trust you. What about your trust for me? What are you hiding from me? I'm your wife." Just then the wizard on the floor lifted himself up on his hands and knees with a groan and she recognized him at last.

"Oh Merlin! It's Severus! Lucius, what in the name of Hecate is going on here?"

The Hogwarts potions master coughed and spat blood on the floor. "Your husband is in the process of torturing me to death, in case the finer points of the situation are eluding you." His voice sounded weak and reedy, but the old sarcasm appeared undiminished. He turned and sat up, his brown eyes meeting Lucius' icy stare in defiance. He looked terrible.

Eleanor barely reflected on her actions, but a moment later she had crouched on the floor by the side of her former colleague, steadying him. "Lucius, what are you doing?" She almost quailed under the hatred that she read in her husband's eyes.

"Get away from him!" he said, his voice no more than a threatening whisper.

"I will," she said. "If you can satisfy me that your behavior is justified."

For a moment she was sure she had finally overstepped her bounds, and even as she reflected on the events of her wedding night much later, she felt certain that anyone else who had dared to challenge him in the way she had would have died or worse.

Her husband briefly closed his eyes, and when he looked at her again, she knew he had mastered himself for her sake. He picked up the potion master's wand and put him into a leg lock to prevent any escape, then he started pacing the small room in nervous energy as he explained himself.

"You will hardly need me to repeat the argument I made to you at the hospital, Eleanor. We have someone here, who did exactly what was needed to leave us open to a poison attack, someone who knows Malfoy Manor, its layout and many of its secrets, someone who knows potions as well as poisons, who could supply the Dark Lord with the exsanguinium philter. Woollett was merely a tool – and an inept one at that. Do you really think he planned and executed my assassination attempt without help?

Now Severus shows up here again. How do you think the Death Eaters were able to abduct Draco? He led them right to him. He's been behind this whole plot from the beginning. He's been behind every attack on our family since the summer."

He whirled around to point an accusing finger at her.

"And now you dare step to the side of this traitorous scum to protect him when I am trying to make him reveal what they have done to my son? Is this your loyalty? Is this the measure of your love for me?"

Eleanor stood up again and spoke with some vehemence of her own: "No, Lucius, the measure of my love for you is the fact that I am stopping you from killing someone who I believe you once called your friend. I don't want his blood on your hands. I don't want you accused of murder, of casting the unforgivables. Haven't you had enough of Azkaban prison for one year?"

They stared at each other over the body of Professor Snape, wounded and angry with each other's choices, when the potions master cleared his throat.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, you two! This is pointless. Look, Lucius, as I tried to tell you before: I'll take some Veritaserum if you don't believe me. At least it's less painful."

Snape's rather rational suggestion seemed to take the elder Malfoy by surprise. He sighed and sat down heavily on a wooden chest.

"You would?" he said. "Why didn't you say so?"

"You never fucking listen!" coughed an exasperated Snape. "You never listened when we were at school, you never listened when you were a Death Eater, and you still don't listen now. It's always 'curse first, ask questions later' with you."

"Fine," growled Lucius and summoned a house elf to bring the potion. He actually helped Eleanor lift the Hogwarts teacher off the floor and settle him on some bales of Dragon hide and jarvey furs. Snape groaned and coughed up more blood, but did not complain. The elf reappeared with a small glass vial of Veritaserum.

A few minutes later Lucius and Eleanor watched the potion master's eyes grow heavy. "Do you think he could have taken an antidote ahead of time, the way he volunteered?" The blond wizard whispered.

Eleanor looked at him. "Well, once you really decide that paranoia is the way forward you might as well commit yourself to the mental ward at St. Mungo's. As far as I'm aware there is no known antidote to Veritaserum. Why don't we hear what he has to say?"

For a moment Lucius' grey eyes met hers, and he laid his hand on her bare shoulder. "What I said earlier – forget it," he said gruffly. "I don't question your loyalty." She hid a small smile. Of course he would not apologize, ever, but his words came so close to it her ears rang.

"I know," she replied running her fingers over his chest in a quick caress.

Lucius turned to Snape. "What do you know of the attempt to poison me?" he asked.

The potion master's voice sounded lifeless and dull as he answered. "Nothing. It seems I am not in the trust of the Dark Lord any more. He expected more help with Draco, and when I proved less of an asset than he hoped, considering my position at Hogwarts, he began to withdraw his favor. I am glad these days if I can attend a meeting without attracting his attention. I believe my days as a double agent are numbered."

"Why didn't you assist the Dark Lord with regards to my son?"

For a moment Snape's mouth thinned as if he tried to fight the impulse to answer, then his face grew slack again. "I've envied Draco ever since he came to Hogwarts."

"Envy? Why on earth would you envy my son?"

"You just had to listen to him: 'my father this… my father that…' He wouldn't shut up about you. He worships the ground you walk on. He wants to be just like you.

I've seen what you've done for him: getting him a place on the quiddich team, going to his games, trying to even sway politics at Hogwarts the way you think is best for him. I remember how you went after that hippogriff when it attacked the boy three years ago. Look at you now. You'd kill anyone who harms Draco; you'd go to the ends of the world for him. That's why."

"What's that to you, Severus?"

"I hated my father. I hated the way he treated my mother, I hated the way he treated me. I wanted to be as far away from him, as unlike him as I could. He used to beat us. He eventually abandoned us.

Have you ever wondered why I never tried to have a family? I didn't want to repeat the disaster that I had to call my childhood. I wish I'd had the kind of father you are to your son. I wish I could have been the kind of father you are."

Snape's voice had grown bitter and Eleanor saw a strange expression of doubt on Lucius' face. His next words surprised her.

"I'm not a good father, Severus. I've tried to make up through money what I didn't spend in time and affection. I've always seen Draco more as the heir of Malfoy than as my child. You know when I truly realized he was my son? Realized that I loved him? When I was in Azkaban. When I had to come to terms with the possibility that I might never see him again. When I knew I might never get to speak to the man he'd grow up to be. When I understood he might come to hate and despise me for my actions."

He straightened himself and paused, seemingly embarrassed about letting his guard slip. His next remark was more in keeping with the attitude she knew.

"You know, Severus, if I'm anything like your role model, you father really must have been scum," he sneered.

Snape sat still for a moment. When he spoke again his voice sounded soft and thoughtful.

"I tried to protect Draco as if he was my own. I tried to protect what you two had. What I never had, and never will have. That's why I came with him today. To try and prevent what eventually happened. I watched over him like a hawk all afternoon, but then he finally managed to give me the slip– I would think he wanted some time alone with Miss Pucey."

Lucius bent forward, alert now, like a coiled snake. "You knew that this was going to happen?"

Snape slumped even further into the storage bales. "The barest outline. Draco hasn't just been abducted. He's been kidnapped for a ransom."

"What's the ransom?"

"The Mirror of Battle. The Dark Lord and some of the other Death Eaters were talking about it, that it was a powerful weapon, that you had the means to get it for them. They will offer you a trade: the life of your son for the magical artifact. You should be getting an owl shortly."

"What if we don't comply?"

"Draco will be killed very slowly and painfully. I imagine they will eventually return his remains, so you can see for yourself the agony that was inflicted on him."

"And if we pay the ransom?"

Even under the drug Snape couldn't hide his amusement. "Lucius, Lucius, have you forgotten about your former master so soon? He will take what you have to give, and then Draco will die anyway, perhaps a little faster, if the Dark Lord is in a merciful mood. They will watch you as you recover the mirror, and as soon as you have it they will strike. The eventual outcome will be the same."

Eleanor turned away. "Woollett did his worst," she sighed. "He told Voldemort what he knew. I've doomed us all."

She heard Lucius sit down again. "Gods," he groaned. "We resist, we kill him. We comply we kill him. My son is already as good as dead. Draco, what did I do?"

The potions master stirred, and as Eleanor looked at him she saw his eyes regain their focus. The Veritaserum seemed to be wearing off. He caught her glance and grimaced. "Believe me now?" he challenged them.

Lucius jutted out his chin at him, his anger still fresh, but then his shoulders sagged. She had rarely seen him look this broken and defeated. "Yes, Severus, I believe you. You're a proud, stubborn son-of-a-bitch without a shred of self-pity. You would have never voluntarily spoken about your father. But what does it matter now? What does anything matter?"

Snape gave him an appraising glance. "Well, it's time I took my stand, I guess, and of the two wizards who ever laid a cruciatus on me I guess I like you a little bit better. What if you could secure the mirror without the Death Eaters observing you?"

The blond wizard gave a dry, mirthless laugh and pulled back his left sleeve. "None of us is ever unobserved," he said, revealing the dark mark. "That is something you should remember about our former master. The Dark Lord always knows."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "There, my friend, you are wrong," he said.