Sold-Chapter 35-The Incrimination of Bellatrix

By Marmalade Fever

A: CMG Malfoys.

B: Sold Draco and Hermione.

Both Dracos looked up at the exact same moment as the sound of footfalls came from the next room. Before anyone could make an attempt to hide, a weary and somewhat stunned-looking Lucius Malfoy entered the room, and then simply stared at the sight of them. He teetered for a moment and his son (b) rushed up to stabilize him. "Father?" he asked, concern etched in his voice. Harry stood, wand withdrawn, but Draco held up a hand.

"It's…" the elder Malfoy began, staring bewilderedly from one face to another, "your mother," he finished. He raised tired hands to his eyes and rubbed at them, blinking uselessly. Then his knees gave out beneath him and the other Draco hurried to help the old man to the couch. "Am I dreaming, Draco?" he asked, turning uncertain eyes between the two identical men. He then looked to Harry, who was still on edge.

"No," his son replied, looking to the others for support. "Father… what about Mother?" he asked.

The elder man stared at his hands. "She… she couldn't handle the news… she's dead, Draco," he whispered, and those who did not know him well were surprised at how very human Lucius Malfoy was, after all.

"Dead," Draco repeated, hardly daring to meet anyone's eyes. "How?"

"Upset… coughing… couldn't breathe… no will left to live…" Lucius let out a shuddery breath. "Couldn't go on without me."

"What happened?" married Draco asked, his emotions reeling, though he knew his own mother was safe. Lucius held up his right fist, which had been, thus far, clenched, and dropped a piece of parchment from it. His son quickly read through it, nostrils flaring. "What is it?" his counterpart asked, and he took the parchment and read it himself. He swore. "After all your years of loyal servitude and that's the thanks you get?"

Lucius looked at him, his eyes unfocused. "I don't feel very well, Draco… I'm seeing double." Quite suddenly the elder man went into a swoon, his head landing unceremoniously in his son's lap.

"What did the letter say?" single Hermione asked, alarmed.

Married Draco cleared his throat. "He's been offered retirement, which is pretty much just a nice way of saying that he's to be killed." He glanced over at his counterpart, who was shaking in silent fury.

Harry sent his fist banging into a side table. "I have to kill him. I have to!" he hissed between clenched teeth.

"We know, Harry," Hermione A said, "that's what the potion's for. The five of us can go back in time and make sure you take the right passage."

"About that…" her counterpart said, uncomfortably, "I don't think the two of you," she gestured to the married couple, "should come along. It would be for the best if you went back to your own dimension, first… to avoid unnecessary complications."

"I agree," Draco added quickly, somewhat fearful of his wife's reaction. The Hermione in question looked as if she were about to object, but didn't. Instead she nodded.

"I suppose you're right," she said. "Once events change, who knows if we'll be able to get back to our own time, never-the-less our own dimension." Her husband let out a sigh of relief.

Harry, who had been staring off in space for a moment, looked up. "I'm not going either," he said, decisively. All looked startled at this. "I've been thinking about it… and I'd like to try my hand at defeating Voldemort in the here and now. Don't worry," he added, as the Hermione from his own dimension began to object, "you and Malfoy can go ahead and change the past. The world is really too far-gone to save. I just want a chance to murder the scumbag before I forget what he's done." He unconsciously fingered the locket he wore around his neck.

"You know," Hermione B said slowly, also looking at the locket, "we never did resolve the whole Lily issue."

"What do you mean?" her counterpart asked.

"Why would V-Voldemort want Lily? Why hasn't he tried harder to find her?"

Harry visibly shuddered. "I had a thought," Draco B said. He hadn't spoken since his father fainted. "Either as bait to lure Potter out of hiding… or perhaps he was planning to perform a familius charm, assuming you don't have a secret keeper, anyway."

"Blood will call blood," Harry murmured, under his breath.

It was at this moment that Lucius stirred, and, with a violent surge of energy, was on his feet, and facing the lot of them. "What's going on?" he demanded. His eyes drifted to his ring finger and it seemed to hit him full-force that his wife was dead. He sunk to his knees, devoid of energy once more.

"It's okay, Father," Draco B said, going to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"What's going on?" Lucius asked again, sounding broken. Draco hesitated before going into an explanation about Evander, Lily, the other dimension and Potter. "I…" Lucius looked startled. "Did you say you got a letter from Dumbledore?"

"That's right," his son said, nodding, "from the Dumbledore in the alternate universe."

"And… there were two letters? Because one had to go to each of them?" Lucius asked, clutching at his son's hand.

"Yes," Draco replied, wondering where this was headed.

"I found one," Lucius said. "I blasted it down… and all I could read was Albus." Lucius hesitated. "The Dark Lord couldn't read it… I thought I was going mad."

"It was charmed," his son replied, "so only someone related to Evander or Lily could read it.

Lucius snapped his fingers in the air. "Bellatrix!" he screeched. The rest looked startled.

"What?" Harry asked, now paying full attention to the white-haired man.

"Bellatrix! She… she said she couldn't read it! She lied to the Dark Lord! To incriminate me!"

"Or to save herself!" Harry shouted. The others turned to him. "Don't you see?" he asked. "It was Bellatrix all along! She's the one who sent for Evander and Lily. That's why there haven't been search parties! She wanted to used Lily to find me, to fork me over to Voldemort, so he would favor her! But she didn't tell him her plan, knowing it was too farfetched! She was saving her own skin!"

Lucius bellowed in outrage. "She will pay for what she's done!"

Quite suddenly, Harry turned to Lucius. "I'm planning to defeat Voldemort, will you come with me?"

"I…" Lucius gave a final look to his wedding ring. "I will," he said, clenching his hand into a fist.

A.N.: I know you think this is short, but when I'm writing it, it feels really, really long. (And I type fast.) No updates in the coming week. I'm going on a vacation, but I don't want to.