Disclaimer:

I do not own any of these characters Sam I am, but I do love it when I can play with them. I love them here or there, I will love them just about anywhere. I love Harry Potter Sam I am even though I do not own any of them. Sam I am I do really love Draco and Gin!

The characters and most places in the story are owned by J.K. Rowling's, Warner brothers, Bloomsbury, and Scholastic not me!

Ancient Magic

Slytherin Skin

Chapter 2

Stifling his anger at the presumptuous, predictable pureblood, Wormtail responded with a high-pitched rebuke, "Lucius, you would do well to keep your patience in check. You are not as important as you once were and I represent the Dark Lord. A bad report from me affirming that our Lord's loyal follower is ignoring his requests from his most loyal servant will get you killed."

Smoothly rising from his chair behind the desk, Lucius strolled to stand in front of the grate with his cane swinging back and forth, clear threat partnered with a cackling laugh at the quivering figure in the fire. Drolly, Lucius sneered his reply, "How very unwise for a rat to tempt a snake. After playing with its food, the snake will certainly unleash a death strike!"

Gulping air like a fish on dry land, Wormtail thought it best to end the argument with Lucius, and to continue the message from his master "Lucius, I have several important messages from our Lord. Let me tell you what they are so I can take my leave of your…presence".

"Look, you vermin. Cease pretending your importance within our Lord's ranks. I have many matters of utmost consequence this afternoon, so tell me what is necessary and remove yourself from my fire."

Taking a deep breath, Wormtail continued his orders, "Fine. The Dark Lord requests that you get your dungeons ready."

Lucius carefully schooled his features at Wormtail's words. He was mildly surprised with the Dark Lord's request. He had heard rumors around the Ministry while on his monthly visits with his barrister for the upcoming hearing to clear his name and make deals to secure his family's honor. He wondered if those rumors had anything to do with this request, but no matter, he would find out soon enough. "When and which ones, you incompetent fool?"

"Do you really think it is necessary to question a request from our Lord?"

Lucius in this moment felt true hatred for the rat and wished he would just hurry up then leave. "I was not questioning him, I was questioning you."

"He wants the larger ones away from the house near the stables. He remembered that the Wards and Confundus Charms were most effective from previous Ministry raids. That is where you hid our Lord's diary, is it not? The Ministry still finds you of interest and performs regular raids on your Manor, but they still can't seem to locate your little rooms and dungeon off the house. Our Lord thinks this is the one area in which you have wisely succeeded, and therefore you may actually be of some use again," Wormtail responded with a mean glint in his eye and a mocking tone.

Lucius, never one to miss body language, caught the tone and sparkle in the man's eye. How he wished he could use an Unforgivable at this moment, but he knew he would have to bide his time. If there was one thing a Malfoy did well, it was planning and biding his time to bring the downfall of another.

"It will be done. How long?'

"Two weeks. Also, our Lord wants you to write Snape and tell him to have the binding potion, Nexuil, and Veritaserum ready for when our Lord summons us to finalize his plans." Wormtail's tone implied that he had much more information, and he loved tormenting the man in front of him.

Lucius knew that Wormtail loved possessing more information than he and the play in power and he wanted nothing more than for the rat to be gone. Permanently was preferred, but gone from his immediate presence would suffice. Lucius would have to tread carefully around this particular traitor. He schooled his features once again, placing an evil smirk on his handsome face and responding with icy calm, "Inform my Lord that I will write Severus and have the dungeons ready. Now if that is all, get your vile rat-self out of my grate."

"Yes, that is all. I will let the Dark Lord know you reluctantly agreed to all his requests." With a wicked smile plastered on his face, Wormtail disappeared quickly.

I cannot tolerate that Gryffindor traitor. Why our Lord has aligned himself with such a foul creature, I do not begin to understand. At least I know I am not alone in my hatred for the rat of Gryffindor. The thing I would love more than seeing myself use an Unforgivable on him would be for Severus to revisit the hatred for the rat from his old Hogwarts school days. That would be most entertaining, especially if he used the most painful potions which have earned him the Dark Lord's favor.

Lucius shook himself out of his thoughts to call for his grounds house elf, Prunus. "Get five trusted grounds elves together and get the dungeons by the stables ready for company. It must be done in ten day's time." With a kick, he ushered the grounds elf out of the room.

With that complete, it was time to write Severus a letter. I really do not have time for this. I need to check in with my barrister for any new conditions and go to Gringotts to put Draco on a budget since the boy is simply trying to kill me early. I do not understand how I ended up with such an incompetent son. He knows where his place in the world needs to be and he fights me on every step towards his rightful place in becoming a very powerful wizard. I will put him back on the right path very soon. If not I will just have to ask Cissa if I can obtain another one, because I will have no choice but to Avada Kedavra the current Malfoy heir.

Before walking over to the beautiful and massive cherry wood desk Lucius detoured to the liquor cabinet to pour himself a firewhiskey. He immediately took a needed drink, then he poured himself another full glass before settling himself behind his desk. Opening his right hand drawer, Lucius pulled out his quill, wax, and parchment to construct a letter to his friend and most trusted confidant. He wrote only three words on one piece of parchment, 'Nexuil and Veritaserum.' Once written, he took out his ebony wand to say the incantation to encrypt the words. Then he settled down to write his correspondence.

Severus,

My friend, I am in need of a few potions. They are encrypted on the following parchment, since they are sensitive to a new condition I have acquired quite unexpectedly and therefore a private matter. This new condition has me feeling a bit anxious, so I will be needing these items in a couple of weeks to cure this illness. It is imperative that you have these potions in two weeks time because I fear that great pain will be upon every muscle and bone in the body. I will see you soon.

Lucius

Lucius read the letter over once before placing the smaller encrypted piece of parchment within the larger one and sealed them with wax. Calling his great eagle owl, Achilles, he fastened the letter to his talon and told the animal where to deliver the message. While Lucius watched the owl leave through the glass atrium door open to the back grounds, he contemplated the best way to proceed to best protect his blood. The games of deceit that he had so carefully crafted were becoming complicated.

Ever since the incident at the Ministry of Magic three years ago, Lucius had been walking a very shaky path of deceit. While in Azkaban, he was visited by that imbecile, Fudge. He knew the Imperius defense would not likely hold, but he could still be cunning and manipulative if he put minimum effort to the task. He used Fudge to get him in contact with Dumbledore. He struck a bargain with the Order; his freedom for his treachery toward his Lord. The Dark Lord really wasn't surprised. After all, the Dark Lord was a Slytherin and knew how important self-preservation was to the house. That did not mean that he would not punish Lucius for getting caught and failing in the first place. When Lucius finally kneeled in front of the Dark Lord, he had a wicked gleam in his eyes while he threw Cruciatus curses at him. Lucius believed for sure he was dying. Then to make Lucius understand who would be in charge, the Dark Lord pulled out his wand one more time, sending a curse sliced through the Achilles tendon in his right ankle. He said this was to remind Lucius that he would always be an Achilles heel to him, but could work his way back up his ranks with hard work. The Dark Lord told him he would give Lucius just enough information to give to the Order until his trust could be reestablished.

Lucius sneered at this memory, and his heel started throbbing. He subconsciously rubbed at his legSeverus had given him a potion that would heal the tendons after the Dark Lord's displeasure. He still suffered as if a dull knife was twisting in his leg causing the sharp hitting pain at times, in effect causing him to almost fall to the ground, but he refused to show any weakness in this way.

Lucius now realized how tender a thread Severus walked to maintain his self-preservation, because now he was doing the same. He started to hate this man with red eyes. At least he was a master Legilimens so he could hide any real emotions. He really did not want this fate to besiege his son. No matter what others thought, he did care for his son, more than that he cared about himself. Besides, Draco was the only Malfoy heir. Lucius really wished he and Narcissa could have had another child, but it was too late. Her labor with Draco had been extensive and frightening. She was so young when she conceived. At eighteen she gave birth and almost lost her life. Lucius was very frightened that the Healers wouldn't be able to stop the bleeding after Draco had been delivered. The problems started right after Draco was handed over to a Medi-Witch to clean. Looking as pale as moonlight dancing on the Manor's Lake Narcissa was fading in and out of consciousness. When awake she always asked about Draco. Lucius heard desperation in her voice and instinct kicked in; he knew Narcissa was to bleeding to death. After what seemed like hours the healers finally slowed down the bleeding enough for Narcissa's coloring to return a bit, but she still looked agonizingly weak and pale. Into the morning they worked, until one of the Healers finally turned to him to say that she would survive and that she was sleeping now. She would need days of rest and no stress. Then the Healer told him the rest, if she got pregnant again she would not survive the pregnancy, so with great pains raking his chest Lucius gave to approval to the Healer to perform a charm that caused her to be barren. He never forgot that when Narcissa came around she cursed him for his brash decision. It took her years to completely forgive him and even more years for him to forgive himself. The forgiveness came when he realized that Narcissa may be frail, but she also is a volatile witch. She would stand by him now and forever to fight to the death where her son was concerned.

He knew he was not alone, needing his son to carry on the family name. Many other purebloods were feeling the same pressure and many of the valuable pureblood families were being killed off and eradicated by the impending war. Between the Ministry and the Dark Lord, many heirs' futures seemed bleak. This was an unacceptable fate that could not be allowed to happen, or else worthless pureblood family names like Weasley, Brown, Longbottom, and Bones would be the only ones left. If those pure bloodlines were the only surviving links to the wizarding world, than they have truly lost. They might as well hand everything over to the Muggles and perform parlor tricks for their entertainment.

Lucius would not stand for that, and other reputable pure blood families felt the same way. This is why many had sent their children to wizarding universities in other countries.Luckily the Dark lord did not mind the dwindling of new recruits because he knew these young recruits would do little good. He did not need weak boys in his service; he needed deadly men. Though the Dark Lord felt this way for now, Lucius knew that many pureblood followers' time was ticking. Soon the Dark Lord would want all of his followers. Lucius also heard ramblings of a new law trying to be passed through the Wizengamot. This law would require all males to join a new Auror department that the Ministry is starting. It was a futile attempt to defeat the Dark Lord. Lucius knew it would take more than radical recruitment to destroy the Dark Lord. Well, he also knew that the Dark Lord probably heard the same rumor he had and was coming up with a plan to keep his potential followers out of the hands of the ministry.

With a deep sigh, he got up from his desk to walk into the foyer to Apparate to his barrister.


Author notes:

Thank you, Fresh pickled toad for the wonderfully brilliant first read. I definitely could not have had the guts to work on this story without your support.

I also have to give a huge Thank you to OneSarcasticChick without her beta expertise, observations and advice this story would be okay. She has helped me take this story from the mundane to the interesting.

Thank you Nutshell for taking an interest in my story. I really appreciate all you have done in helping me get this story on track.

Lucius named his owl Achilles because it was clearly on his mind and it is almost a self hatred reminder of his fate.

The name for the grounds house elf is part of the name for bitter tasting cherries that keep deer away from farm land. I thought it was fitting since wizards are not particularly kind to their servants and what better way to show status than naming a creature after something bitter.

Nexuil binding potion is something I made up, yeah I know, couldn't have guessed that. Well anyway, Nexuil is a Latin term for binding two people together. Now, I got this information on an internet language site so if it is wrong, well then I am sorry, but I still think it is a pretty good name.