Black Truth
Chapter Three: Mutual Unwillingness
"Do you need anything?" Snape asked as Lucius laid Draco on the green and silver bedspread.
"A bottle of Port would be nice," Lucius commented.
Snape rolled his eyes. "I meant for Draco, not for you."
"Then nothing. He'll be up and about soon enough. He's not hurt after all, just adjusting."
Snape nodded. "Fine then." And the Potions Master left the two Malfoys alone.
Lucius looked around the room. It was just a duplicate of the Slytherin dormitory really, except that there was one bed instead of a few, all draped in the classic Slytherin green and silver, with a fireplace to warm the room (for it was in the dungeon), and a small desk for Draco to write on. Draco's trunk was sitting, open, at the foot of his bed and Lucius could see a stack of parchment inside it.
After a few minutes of thought, Lucius transfigured one of the sheets into a bottle of Port and another into a wine glass such as the ones he drank from in the Manor. Lucius stared into the flames of the fire, which were also green and silver, as he sipped the wine. The room was very quiet, save the crackling of the fire, and Lucius's mind easily slipped back to when he had gone through his first Aspectus.
He remembered that day. He had been in a really bad mood because there had been a gnawing headache at the back of his skull all day, and he had skipped dinner for the silence of his own room. His Aspectus hadn't hit until after he had fallen asleep and he remembered vividly waking to see the entire room glowing different shades of green at the darkest hour of the night. It had left shortly after, so he hadn't actually seen the matching aura of his life mate until a few months had gone by. But he had to wonder if Draco chanced to see an aura that matched his own. It was probable, however highly unlikely.
He was shaken from his reverie by an ecstatic, "Father!" and he turned to see Draco sitting up excitedly.
"How are you feeling?" Lucius asked, crossing to the bedside.
"Fine. The glowing stopped."
"Yes, I imagine it would. It will come back in a few days, each time for a longer amount of time."
Draco looked skeptical. "Is the headache going to come back too?"
"No."
"Oh. That's okay then."
Lucius paused for a moment, looking at his son. "Draco, did you see anyone with an aura matching your own?"
"I didn't have time to look at myself." Draco pointed out blankly.
"What color was it when you lost consciousness?"
"Black."
"Just black?"
Draco thought. "Yes. Black, like ebony almost."
"Then that's your aura."
Draco thought again. He remembered seeing someone with a black aura... but no details came to mind. "I can't remember anyone with my aura."
"Pity."
Harry denied the offered lemon drop as he sat down in a plush chair in front of Dumbledore's desk. Dumbledore was quiet for a moment, as if carefully choosing the correct words to begin.
"There are many things we need to discuss, Harry."
"Why is Mr. Malfoy here?"
"Not for the reason you are assuming, Harry, I'm sure. He is here purely for family reasons."
"But he's a Death Eater-"
"Without a Dark Mark."
Harry stopped his outburst. "So he removed it-"
"Harry, you cannot just 'remove' the Dark Mark. Believe me, Severus has tried a dozen times and nothing works. The reason Lucius Malfoy does not have a Dark Mark is because there wasn't one there to begin with."
"How." It was a statement, not a question, and Dumbledore had been forced to come to a crossroads.
"That is information that cannot leave this room, Harry. But, you have many times not had enough information, perhaps unjustly, so I am now going to trust that you will keep this in utmost secret. Only speak of your knowledge when you know the time is right." Dumbledore looked at Harry, as if compelling Harry to think about this last statement. Harry nodded.
"Many times in this school, the subject of pureblooded wizards has come out in the open. Lucius and Draco Malfoy are pureblood wizards, but not from wizard blood."
Harry blinked.
"They are from a group called the Veriae, known in textbooks as the Atra Veritas, or, translated, "Black Truth". You could think of them as wizards, for in fact they are, but wizards who are more hindered with a wand than without one. They rely on the magic granted to them by their Rebirth every month and by their wings, wings which you have seen."
Harry nodded, remembering the large black wings that had sprouted from Lucius's back.
"These wings have two forms, the sharpened form that appears when the Veriae are angry or endangered, or the silken form when they are happy or content. These wings go through a rebirth once a month, much as the rebirth of a Phoenix, only they don't burn. From these wings the Veriae are in tune with the magic that surrounds our world and they call upon this magic in their wings instead of the magic in the wand core. But all that aside, the reason Lucius is here is because Draco needs the guidance of one of his own kind during this phase that he has entered into called the Aspectus."
"What does that do?"
"That is not my business to tell you Harry. It is Draco's. You will have to ask him for the details on the matter."
Harry scowled. Yeah right, he thought.
"Back to the subject of Lucius, which I'm sure is still irking you. Lucius Malfoy has, of yesterday, ceased to be a Death Eater. This also has to do with his Veriae lineage, but the details are unimportant. Know that there is no threat poised from his former Death Eater background. Now Harry, I believe you wanted to talk to me about something other than Lucius Malfoy's sudden appearance."
"Yes. Well, Hermione, Ron, and I wanted to talk to you about the DA."
"You mean about whether I would allow, or even encourage, you to continue it?"
"Yes."
Dumbledore thought for a moment. "I see no reason why that would be a problem, as long as all prior commitments are met, such as homework."
Harry smiled at this. Everyone in the DA would be pleased to hear this; they really hadn't liked the idea of holding meetings behind Dumbledore's back again.
"But I have a request that you allow one other student to join you. You need not extend the invitation yourself; I will speak to him about it. And he may not choose to attend anyway, but I request that you extend the option."
Harry's brain clicked and he had a sinking suspicion he knew which student Dumbledore was talking about. "You mean Malfoy?"
"Yes, I was referring Draco. He needs to get used to not using a wand, as it will only hinder him in upcoming battles."
Harry nodded, privately thinking that it was okay to 'extend the invitation' as Dumbledore called it, because there was no way that Draco Malfoy would ever step foot in one of the DA meetings.
"So then, Lucius Malfoy was a spy?" Hermione asked.
"No. More like, he's retired now." Harry muttered.
"Mental. The whole thing is mental," Ron murmured, and Harry privately thought, Ron you have no idea.
"So what did he say about the DA?" Hermione asked, to change the subject.
"Oh, yeah, did you ask him?"
"He said we could as long as all 'prior commitments' were upheld or something."
"In other words: classwork." Ron clarified.
"Right. He also... requested we add another member. One who may or may not show up."
"Who would that be?" Ron asked quizzically.
"It's Draco Malfoy, isn't it?" Hermione asked and Ron looked at her as if she was crazy.
"It can't be Ferret, Hermione-" Ron stopped at the look on Harry's face. "It IS Malfoy? You didn't say yes, did you?"
"He probably won't come," Harry muttered.
"You're absolutely right," Hermione agreed, looking pointedly in Ron's direction. "He won't come."
"But what if he does?" Ron asked. "Then we'll have to act all nice-"
"Not if we're dueling him," Harry put in, and Ron caught on to what Harry was implying.
"I like that idea, Harry."
Draco Malfoy returned to classes the next day, looking for all the world as if he had not fainted, or blacked out, or fallen down gracefully at supper the night before. In fact, Draco Malfoy himself couldn't remember much about the blacking out part, so he brushed off any inquiries about his health (along with inquiries about why he hadn't been in the Hospital Wing). All was going along like a normal school day for Draco Malfoy so when Ron Weasley happened to brush by him after lunch, he wasn't expecting a shouting contest.
For Ron Weasley the day was not going so well. It seemed to be one of those days where nothing went right and everything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong. And Ron assumed that if he had been in Potions (which he thankfully wasn't) his cauldron would have melted on him, just to make the day worse. And his friends weren't helping either as Hermione seemed never to have a bad day and therefore wasn't comforting at all, and Harry seemed preoccupied with dreading his upcoming Potions class to worry about how bad Ron's day was. So when he happened to run into Malfoy leaving the Great Hall after lunch and the little Ferret had the audacity to snipe 'watch where he was going' Ron let it all out.
"Oh, and I'm sure we're going to all have to watch what we do around you now Malfoy, we wouldn't want you fainting again." He spoke snidely.
"Shut it Weasel, or you might find yourself blacking out, or should I say knocked out."
"Oh, great comeback. Have you been working on them with Daddy in your free time, because now I bet he has a lot of time to spend on you, and everyone knows that Death Eaters always have the best comebacks, don't they?"
Harry gulped as anger began to radiate off Draco, but no one else seemed to notice. "Ron this might not be the best-" he started in a low whisper.
"Don't you EVER talk about my father that way!" Draco shouted. A small ripping sound was heard and Ron stepped back as two black wings of sharpened feathers sprouted out of Draco's back.
"What the-"
"DRACO! Calm down this instant!" Snape appeared at Draco's elbow.
"Not until he takes back what he said about my father!" Draco hissed, his wings snapping furiously, a lone feather breaking loose and falling to the floor.
Snape rolled his eyes. "Weasley, apologize. Twenty points from Gryffindor for antagonizing another student.
As Ron mumbled a completely insincere apology, Harry turned to Hermione and whispered. "When you get some time, look up Veriae in the library, will you?"
The girl nodded, still looking at the black wings and the slice of stone that one lone feather had carved out of the floor just by drifting to it.