Revenge of a Slytherin
Chapter 15
Lucius sat in the darkest corner of the three broomsticks; he had his hood up and used a glamour to ensure no one recognised him. When his companion arrived Lucius gestured for him to sit. 'I will make this brief, this woman' he slipped a picture of Nichol across the table and a brief biography of what he knew about her. 'I want to know who she really is, something about her does not add up, and I want the truth and I want it fast!'
His companion nodded and slipped the information into his cloak.
'Also, you will speak to no-one about this, I want no one to know you are looking or this information and you tell no one but me what you find.' Lucius leant closer on the table and glared at his companion. 'Do you understand?'
'Yes sir, I will meet you here in a week to let you know what I have.' He then rose and left the pub.
Lucius sat back in his chair and ordered a large firewhisky and sat for a while sipping it. When he left the three broomsticks he walked down a quiet alleyway and then removed the glamour and dropped the hood on his cloak. He was intending to do some shopping in Hogsmeade but decided he was not in the mood so he apparated back to his summerhouse, which is where he had moved to after leaving the manor.
When he arrived back he poured himself another drink and sat in his library, he tried to do some paperwork and even to read, but his mind was on Nichol. 'This cannot continue' he muttered to himself 'I have to get this woman out of my system.' But he was having a harder time than he realised he would.
The following day he had a lucky break, his dark mark started to burn and he knew he was being summoned. So he pt on his death eater robes and went to see Lord Voldemort.
When he got back to his summerhouse two days later he was exhausted. Voldemort had plans for a raid on a house of a muggle who was writing a book about the wizarding world. Voldemort did not want this happening, as she was allegedly writing about everything from Hogwarts to himself and the death eaters. Voldemort declared that they should find this Rowling woman and she should be stopped from exposing their world to muggles everywhere.
The raid had not gone well, the woman appeared to have been tipped off, and was no-where to be found. Some rumoured that someone from the magical community was hiding her. Voldemort had been furious at this failure and had turned this anger on Lucius as leader of the raid and also bringing rumours he had heard into the equation. 'Lucius, I lately I have heard some rather disturbing things about you' Voldemort said.
'Oh, really?'
'I have been told you have a, shall we say, guest? In your home.'
Lucius did not respond.
'Lucius, is this true?'
'Yes my lord … I have a guest as you put it.'
'Then is it also true that this guest is a muggle?' Voldemort said with undisguised disgust.'
Lucius looked at Narcissa standing by Voldemort's side, realising that Draco must have told his mother she was there. Which meant that Draco had been home and snooping he thought with fury.
'Lucius is this guest a muggle?' Voldemort asked again raising his voice.
'It would appear so sir.'
'Appear so?'
'Sir she was a teacher at Hogwarts and was under the protection of Dumbledore. I believe there is something more going on here and am attempting to ascertain what this is.'
'Something more?'
'Sir, I believe there is more to this situation than meets the eye. I believe there is something Dumbledore is hiding.'
'So you are telling me your interest in this woman extends beyond what is in your breeches?' Voldemort said his voice dripping with disdain and sarcasm. Lucius noted his ex wife smirking behind Voldemort's shoulder.
Lucius glared at Narcissa and replied to Voldemort's question 'yes sir, I really believe that Dumbledore has something up his sleeves. I have wondered for a long time why he would now choose to let a muggle teach at Hogwarts and why he is so protective of her. I think that he is hiding something and I am already taking measures to find out what that is.'
'Well you have one week, if you have no suitable explanation for me by then I will send someone around to deal with this matter.'
Lucius knew exactly what he meant by this, he knew this meant that unless he could give some good news, Voldemort would send around death eaters to kill Nichol. He was unsure why but this thought cut through him like a knife and he knew he must find out what Dumbledore's secret was. He nodded to Voldemort and saw a sign of dismissal from Voldemort. Voldemort called him as he turned to walk back to the door
'Oh and Lucius, do not make the mistake of trying to help this woman. I will forgive you playing with this muggle, as you are only a man.' The way tone of his voice as he said this annoyed Lucius, Voldemort seemed to be inferring that he was above such behaviour, but glancing to his ex wife who now lived with Voldemort he knew this would not be so. 'If you try to protect her and try to stop the death eaters from taking her, they will be carrying orders to kill you too!'
Lucius did not respond to this threat, just turned and stalked out of the room. Once outside he dissapparated back to the summerhouse to collect his thoughts.
Lucius remained at the summerhouse for another 24 hours. He could still not understand why he felt protective towards Nichol. He tried to tell himself she was just a toy, his possession but he knew it was more than that, it was something he was not prepared to admit even to himself.
By the time he arrived back home at the Manor he had been gone for 4 days. Nichol had been in the house alone the whole time. She had tried to amuse herself, reading or gazing out of the windows. She could not get outside; there was no radio or television. The only amusement she had was music when she asked for it. She had no idea where this came from it just seemed to fill the room. None of the music was recognisable to her they were however hauntingly beautiful pieces that sounded very similar to what she was used to referring to as classical.
By the fourth day she was so bored and feeling very alone. She missed Lucius terribly and her body ached to be next to his. Deciding to wander the house again she walked down the main staircase and into the conservatory. She very much liked this room, it had huge columns of marble and the ceiling appeared to not exist, she guessed this was probably like the Great Hall back at Hogwarts and enchanted. She had to pull her thoughts back to the present as she thought briefly about Hogwarts and how much she missed it, and wondered if she would ever see it again. Still gazing at the ceiling she realised how much she was missing being outside.
Her body was restless, not only aching for Lucius' touch but having been indoors for so long she felt that she was going stir crazy, almost laughing to herself when she realised how silly it would appear in a beautiful old house such as this to have cabin fever.
She sat on one of the chaise in the conservatory and stared at the water in the pool. Suddenly it seemed so inviting. Considering going back upstairs for her swimsuit she decided to not bother. 'I am alone, so who cares' she said to herself. Removing her clothes entirely she dived naked into the pool. The water was cool but not cold, it seemed to revive her body. Swimming almost the entire length of the pool underwater before breaking the surface and coming up for air. Taking a big breath again she dived back beneath the surface and swam back up the pool. She realised it had no shallow or deep end, it seemed to be deep the entire length of the pool. Turning onto her back she let her body float on the surface of the water, drifting toward the centre of the pool just floating and letting her cares float away.
After a couple of minutes she rolled in the water and floated face down, her arms outstretched face-submerged feeling totally relaxed.
When Lucius arrived back at the Manor he gave his cane and cloak to an elf and asked where Nichol was. He wandered through to the conservatory to see her. But the sight that greeted him made his blood run cold …
Nichol was floating in the water like a vision of a surreal mermaid – naked facedown with her arms outstretched and her hair drifting around her limp and lifeless body.