Author's note: As ever this doesn't belong to me. Strong anti Dumbledore vibe.
The Deal with Voldemort
"You're going to have to explain Riddle to Draco, Lucius, I refuse to have him believe a load of old rubbish just because of some stupid campaign of the old coots. He's at an age now when he can understand, and Harry won't be remaining awake so we have no risk of the great saviour finding out."
"You realize that he believes that I'm this big bad death eater, and straight, you're straight plus an amazing spy, and Remus is our enemy. He is also under the belief that his mother and I are still together and that he'll get the full Malfoy fortune, not just what Narcissa hasn't frittered away…"
"Lucius I do not care, you will inform him of the facts. You will point out the gross injustice that has occurred, and the reasons behind this grand contrivance. I suggest that you decide which is going to be more shocking to him, the thought that this rubbish about death eaters, or the fact that his inheritance will be halved, then tell him in order of least shocking to most that way he'll be able to handle it better – probably."
That was how the conversation had gone, with Draco entering at his godfather's invitation, to find his father sat at one of the kitchen tables with a bottle of malt whiskey and two glasses.
"Father, you asked to speak with me?"
"Draco, we need to talk. Sit child, it's going to be a long talk, and I think we'll both need liquid refreshment before we're finished." He waited long enough for the mini version of himself to sit opposite, before pouring them both a hefty measure of the liquid fire.
"I need to tell you a story, one that starts back when a certain "Dark lord" was a child. I should explain that Tom Riddle, who you know better as Lord Voldemort, is actually Professor Dumbledore's nephew. His mother being Dumbledore's sister, however when she met Riddle, there was a family rift at the new pairing.
"Riddle senior wasn't a pleasant man by any account, and was also a muggle; however Dumbledore's sister stayed with him, until she gave birth to Tom, where Riddle senior removed his wife from this world into the next. Tom then grew up for the next three years with his father, before being left an orphan due to a muggle car accident. In normal circumstances the closest family, which was Dumbledore, would take in the orphan. However Dumbledore was still unforgiving due to the rift, and refused to take in his young nephew. His official reason was that as a Hogwarts professor he was unable to look after such a young charge, and his parents were far too old to cope. Tom ended up in a muggle orphanage.
"He grew up into an unstable 11yr old by the time he went to Hogwarts, having been informed that all the things he was sure were happening were a figment of his imagination, then being beaten for lying. When he started at Hogwarts he was placed in to Slytherin.
"You'll be interested to know that Dumbledore also was a Slytherin, though his loyalties are to Gryffindor nowadays. As you'll know, Slytherin is half and half, as are the rest of the houses, however, Slytherin has had a rather undeserved reputation throughout the ages. Dumbledore according to Hagrid, looked most unkindly on his young nephew and from appearances anyway, seemed to forget his own stint in our house, and acted with bias. From then on, while the other professors had little problem with Tom, Dumbledore treated him as if he could do no right, giving him detentions constantly, removing points, marking his work harshly.
"Then came the incident with that overly large spider of Hagrid's, and the Basilisk. As Riddle senior was a muggle, Tom didn't get his parselmouth ability from that side of the family, in fact, legend has it that the Dumbledore family was originally named Slytherin. Parselmouth has long been a family ability. Tom however was not the one to open the chamber, he has always been acutely afraid of females, and as you are well aware the entrance lies within a girls toilets.
"We have our suspicions on who actually was the one to open the chamber, however we have never had any firm proof. Contrary to popular belief, Hagrid was not expelled for the death of the student, Maud or whatever her name was, but more due to the fact that he had the overgrown spider, and it was his final warning. He'd already been warned for keeping all manner of dangerous creatures within the school, and knew the risk when he took the spider in. Tom however had nothing to do with Hagrid's pet being found out, having unsuccessfully tried to lie to Dumbledore, who continued on to dose him with veritaserum forcing him to spill all of his secrets.
"During his interrogation Dumbledore let slip the family link. You should understand that Tom had never understood the outright hatred his professor had for him, and had worked hard, harder than that Granger girl to prove his worth. After finding out that the one person he wanted to prove most to was his uncle, Tom tried doubly hard. This was when he decided that it was in fact his muggle parentage that made Dumbledore hate him, with Dumbledore shall we say encouraging that belief. Tom believed his father's blood had tainted him, which was where mud blood comes from.
"Again contrary to popular belief, Tom didn't set up a secret organization to remove muggleborns from society; he merely started to investigate his blood, trying to prove how inferior it was to "pureblood". Unfortunately for Tom, his research attracted attention of the press printing that here was a prejudiced pureblood without bothering to do any research into the man behind the words. By the time I came to Hogwarts Tom had the reputation of being incredibly racist, with most of society against him. However there were two sections that continued to associate themselves with him, those who agreed with the principle that muggle blood tainted that of pure wizarding blood, and those of his friends.
"The problem that so called purebloods face, Draco is that we aren't, I can't name a single family who in the last two generations haven't had muggle blood within them, we've been marrying muggles for centuries, else we would have all died out or been village idiots. Your Grandmother was a muggle, and your Grandfather Black also was muggleborn. Knowing this fact, whom do you think decided to believe Tom's words, bigots and idiots, a dangerous combination. Then we have Tom's friends from school, and his uncle.
"Aberforth being the younger of the two brothers was unaware of Tom Riddle until his research hit the papers with a picture of him, and instantly recognized the young man as a relation. At first he was under the mistaken impression that he was his son, so closely did he resemble Aberforth, until a conversation with Dumbledore, when it was revealed about Agatha and her split from the family. Before you interrupt, Aberforth and Albus had a falling out just before the Grindelwald wars, over which I'll inform you of later, not speaking to any of the family members until he saw the article.
"As soon as he was informed they had another argument and haven't spoken since. Aberforth tracked down his nephew immediately, where I would like to say there was a big family reunion. Unfortunately Tom, though from all accounts glad to find his uncle, wanted to earn Dumbledore's respect even more, Aberforth and Tom argued, with Aberforth ranting about how idiotic his brother was, while Tom was defending him declaring him the wisest wizard of their time.
"They parted ways with Tom refusing to hear anything negative about his new found uncle, but offering to talk to Aberforth when he could manage to talk without insulting Albus. Aberforth though went on to talk to my father and his friends, they were Tom's friends in affect, and asked for them to look after his nephew, and offered his help through any future problems.
"As you can guess, with my father being his friend, Tom was always about and I grew up with him being part of my life. When I entered Hogwarts, I have to admit there was a small group of us who already disliked Dumbledore; your Godfather being one of them. Ever wondered why Crabbe and Goyle were Slytherin, two shameless Hufflepuff's if ever anyone did see, But their parents, my friends, and their grandparents all hold affection for Tom, and if ever anyone tells you the sorting hat is a true reflection of your personality, just point them to those two.
"As you will be aware, we all were Slytherin, fighting tooth and nail to get in, and when we did, we spent our time proving how much better we were to the whole school. Our grades were the top of the class, battling against Ravenclaw for that honour. Ravenclaw however get extra tutoring, so the glory was even greater. We trained hard at Quidditch, to the point of exhaustion, so that we won every year that we were there. And still after having the best grades in the school, winning the Quidditch Cup, we never won the house cup.
"Your godfather made several enemies during his school days, and this more than anything helped point out the bias within the school, he was a top scholar, and as you know talented beyond reckoning in the art of potions, however he struggles doing lesser magics with his wand. The four boys, Potter's father, Pettigrew, Remus and Sirius, had the tendency to wait until he was alone, before they would act. More often than not they would end up suffering more than Severus, so he was blamed for the fighting and the feud.
"You can guess how Severus felt at this, especially after the Shrieking Shack incident. You'll have to ask Severus about that, and not pester if he declines to. It was common knowledge about our affiliation with Tom, who was still known as Tom Riddle at that point, and the quartet felt it funny to name our group. At first we were the Riddler's, though they soon found that lacking in menace. Then they started calling us the Death squad, after Severus. The Eater's came with Crabbe and Goyle, it was Death and the Eaters, made us sound like a bad "pop" group, eventually it was Death Eaters, which I still think is stupid for a group which is supposedly evil, I mean it implies we eat death, so hence only life is left.
"As you can guess, that name was snatched by the media and propelled us into this group who obviously were up to no good, with all sorts of crimes being supposedly committed by us. Severus has never liked colours in his clothing, preferring to wear black, but the rest of us wear colours that suit us, but Severus' outfit was the one that we supposedly wore as our uniform. I have no idea where the idea that we wore skull's for masks came from, unless some poor soul sore Severus walking one night, I admit though I love him dearly, he does have a tendency at times to resemble Death.
"We believe that Albus gave the name Voldemort to Tom, as he was seen talking to him and after that he was known as Voldemort, it seems like the sort of thing Tom would do to please his wonderful uncle.
"You'll want an explanation of Potter and his scar no doubt. Put it this way, you need the urge to cause harm to people to cast an unforgivable. Tom wouldn't hurt an ant with a crucio. Potter senior had a small problem with chasing the ladies, well known fact; he chased skirts like a cat chases micee. Someone had enough of his ways and decided to end them, Lily got in the way trying to protect her husband from being beaten up and was thrown against something that split her skull open and she bled to death. Potter then attacked his assailant and also ended up dead. Harry though was left alone, but still managed to cut his head open on some glass.
"Instead of the Potter's dying in such a scandalous manner, it was seen as an ideal opportunity for Albus to accuse Tom, as Potter was rather loud in his objection to the "Death Eaters". To protect Tom we took him away, to let it all die out, and suddenly Potter was the Boy Who Lived, which was utter rubbish. Severus then decided that he should become Potion's Master at Hogwarts to keep an eye on Albus, claiming he was seeking to make amends for his sins.
"Severus believes Albus is so addled he actually believes the rubbish about Potter and Voldemort. Anyway, it gets confusing when I try and think of Severus spying, sometimes I think it's only spying, then it's double, then it's triple, he's spying on Albus, who thinks he's spying on Albus for Voldemort but isn't really and is actually spying for Albus, but in actual fact he's not. Severus keep's track of it. Just know that Severus isn't Dumbledore's lackey.
"The thing with Quirrel back in your first year was just some vampire who wanted his mortal life back, second year Severus entered the chamber seconds after Albus and discovered Potter stabbing some decomposing basilisk with a big piece of wood with a little red head fainting next to them. He said with the mix of decomposing flesh, stagnant water and dust, it was no wonder that they were both tripping like NEWT students at a weekend. Potter had had his head filled with tales of Voldemort all year, and what with the childish stunts of a certain headmaster, he believed that a diary had come alive and tried to kill him. Albus according to Severus was actively encouraging him.
"Sirius Black decided to pull a nasty little stunt on Severus, which backfired when he upset Remus so much he forgot his Wolfsbane and on smelling his mate- anyway Pettigrew whom had set up Potter by letting the man who actually killed him know his whereabouts, had been hiding out as a rat decided that Sirius would recognize him, and it all went down hill from there.
"You know as well as I do, that that Hippogriff wasn't sentenced to death because of you, as you never complained about being bitten. So who do you think set the beast up and blamed a known Death Eater… Anyway, that stupid Quidditch game when the stadium collapsed was due to shoddy workmanship. It was proven weeks after that the stadium hadn't been constructed properly however it seemed better to go with the old Death Eater attack, just because there was a big cloud of dust in the air afterwards.
"Then we had the unstable son of a counselor, whom had been locked up in an asylum for being unstable and escaped. Potter had nightmares about him, and involves him in nightmares about this evil monster who is out to get him. Albus puts him into the triwizard tournament for glory, the unstable Crouch has his own game plan though what he actually wanted to achieve I doubt anyone will ever know. He ends up killing Cedric and Potter flees home. He then accuses us of being there when we were all at the Ministry with that idiot Fudge trying to convince him Albus has lost his mind.
"Each time there is a tragedy it's "Voldemort", to the point where we suspect that it's no longer just Dumbledore and Potter blaming him, that in fact it's a great excuse to stop the blame going elsewhere. Why bother investigating a murder when you can blame it on the Dark Lord. "
In between gaps Lucius had been sipping at the whiskey, and between them they were two thirds through, with both men becoming light headed. Draco had sat patiently, quietly, at first his expression disbelieving but as the story went on he had become more open, and suddenly it made sense, things that had never tallied up, Buckbeak's almost execution for one. It had been his fault, having decided to show off to his friends, and honest enough to admit to them he'd deserved it. Other things too, like why Death Eater's were supposed to have a dark mark according to the press, when in fact it was just Severus.
"The Dark Mark?"
"Severus wanted a tattoo to celebrate passing his Mastery in Potions, and being Severus picked something black. It went a little septic in the beginning, and doesn't react all that well with potion fumes, he has to be careful with it, though he refuses to get it removed. I think it was supposed to be some Celtic symbol of Potions, but to be honest I think it's more that he saw something he liked the look of and chose it. I'm sure some of the others have tattoos, it was the thing to do when we were in our late teens early twenties, on your back, or shoulder, or even worse your behind. I think Crabbe had his name on his forehead as a dare, though that's only on Goyle's say so. If he did he had it removed pretty much the same day."
"You're gatherings?"
"We could hardly invite a bunch of small children, you'd have let slip to someone, a tutor, your professors about this man called Tom Riddle. He's a wanted man Draco, not that he's aware of it. I don't think he's been aware of anything since the name Voldemort. We keep him away from the public, keep him away from papers, from strangers. Supply him with books, keep him company, try and keep him sane. You could call us a bunch of Hufflepuff's but he's ours, we would not allow anyone to destroy him."
They sat in silence for a while, both gazing into the fire, Draco letting the new information settle, glad in the knowledge his father wasn't evil, that he wasn't evil. Lucius was trying on the other hand to work out how to tell his son about the other issue.
Pouring another measure of whiskey each he coughed gently, dragging his only child's attention back.
"I didn't ask you here to talk about Tom alone, There is something else that we need to talk about before you talk to Severus. It will come as a shock I realize, though I know you well enough that you have a good head on your shoulders, and will think before you react.
"Your mother and I are separated, actually we are divorced, and have been for almost 17 years. We married because I needed an heir. I love you, don't misunderstand me, your mother loves you, we've kept living together for your well being, both believing that you would prosper more with a mother and a father, and when we divorced we were able to operate together adequately, much better than when we were married.
"I'll start at the beginning again. My father was a very tolerant man, he respected my choices in life. When I announced that I was gay and in a relationship, he was very supportive, though he only asked that I ensured that the Malfoy name would be passed on through blood. Which was when my partner suggested Narcissa Black. He also helped me throughout the very short marriage.
"Do I get to know who this partner is? Or are you too ashamed?"
"Never ashamed, Severus and I are a couple, but that's for later still. Severus prepared a fertility potion to help proceedings and she fell pregnant almost instantly. You were born almost nine months after my wedding day, and we were divorced as soon as your birth certificate was sorted out. Your mother had an adequate income while you were still a child while you were still living with us, and when you left home for good, or we decided it was a suitable time for us to part, she was to get half of the family fortune."
"Half? What the hell did she do to deserve that, what carried me for nine months Woohoo! I mean Uncle Sev spent more time with me than she ever did. I bet he wouldn't ask for half, he'd let me have it as I am your child!" Draco had stopped listening at this point to any attempt from his father at calming him down and continued to splutter and rant for another ten minutes before calming down.
"So this was a big secret, you're gay? I mean mother being an utter bitch and stealing from her child was a bit hard to take, though I'm going to hire someone you know, to make sure she doesn't lay a finger on any of it."
"Not quite all of it. You see back at school Severus was being picked on by the four morons, and he was set up by them on a dangerous prank. However instead of the outcome that was expected, it was revealed that the wolf within Remus liked Severus. Liked him more than as a potential friend –"
"You mean the wolf wanted him as a mate?"
"Correct, Severus however was slightly traumatized by the whole charade, and Remus when he transformed back from his wolf form, changed too. He spent months chasing after Severus begging to be forgiven, trying to spend time with him. As you may be aware the habits of mating werewolves means that Severus had to have somewhere wanted the same thing deep down, I think that was what upset him most.
"Being attracted to Remus myself, though I would never have betrayed my love, I approached him after he started standing against the other three, after he refused to give up, no matter how any times he was blasted away, and suggested that we became partners.
"Severus I'm sure felt betrayed at first, not understanding why when he kept seeing myself and Remus in our favorite spots, I would refuse to end our relationship. It took a year for him to accept our duo had turned into a trio, to accept Remus' touch without flinching. For the first five years of our strange relationship, Remus wasn't terribly interested in me, I was just a means of getting Severus, and he was just a means of keeping Severus. He didn't mind either way when Narcissa and I married, nor did he mind when we divorced. He attended your christening, but stayed at the back, keeping out of sight for the most part. That all changed when Potter and Lily were killed, Black and Remus both knew about Potter's problem with women, and Remus had been with both Severus and I at the time. He was also aware of our affiliation with Tom and had in fact met him several times. So when it was all blamed on Voldemort, Remus didn't believe it for a second.
"Sirius believed it, but he believed Pettigrew was the murderer and went slightly insane and ended up in the same asylum as Crouch, until he escaped. Which was the reason behind the prank in your Third Year, Sirius' revenge.
"Anyway after Potter's death Remus needed us more than ever, having gone from having three close friends to none, and that was when we became closer, learning to love each other. I don't think Severus noticed the difference to be honest, but we did. However our relationship is a discrete one, as we are aware that Remus and Severus in a relationship with a known Death Eater would cause chaos. Dumbledore would act and we wouldn't like the outcome. We do all live together though, courtesy of Severus and his magic."
"Then we come on to our newest member, Sirius, he's just become ours in the past few days though he's been a constant for a while now." There was an uneasy silence as the words sat in the ears of both men, Lucius suddenly slightly uneasy at the thought that his son might not understand the concept of a pack like relationship, and Draco uneasy at the thought that it might mean that there was less money in the bank for him to inherit.
"You're not going to reveal anything private are you now, like your favorite position in bed, because I like how you feel you can trust me with all of this, but I really don't want to know, parents aren't meant to have sex"
"That's private between us four, I hardly think I'd feel the need to share that with you Draconis. There is a reason behind me revealing all of this now though. Severus will explain it to you later, but for now I think you need to think carefully over every thing you've learnt today. Oh and son?" He paused waiting for his son to look at him, for all that Draco believed Lucius still knew his son well, "We're all financially independent, don't worry about anyone spending it but your mother."
Gently ruffling his son's hair he stood, offering him a smile. It had gone well, better than expected, and he felt lighter, lighter than he'd felt in a while, now that the burden of revealing both his sexuality and his loyalties had been shared with his son. Beaming as he left the room, and hugging Severus who'd been sat outside the door, waiting patiently, whom he knew would have intervened if it had all gone wrong, he whispered, "He's all yours love" before leaving his Death to speak with Draco, off in search of Remus.