Chapter 26
Lucius was woken up by a shrill alarm. He stumbled out of bed, his hands pressed to his ears in an effort to muffle the sound. Some seconds after he was awake the sound reduced to an insistent hum. Grabbing his wand he left the guest room Lady Zabini provided for his use. Down the hall he saw a sleepy Draco leave his room. He met up with the confused boy. "What's going on?" "There is trouble, Dragon." He replied. He knew very well what an alarm of this kind meant; most households including his own implemented them but the last time Malfoy manor was breached Draco was at Hogwarts, and before that he was in diapers.
"Koki." He called and a house-elf appeared with a soft pop. The little creature seemed out of it but tried to be as composed as possible to serve the mistress' guests. "Malfoy guest called for Koki." She slurred. Staggering dangerously she slumped to the side. Lucius jumped to stop her fall. "What's the matter, Koki?" the elf shook her head. "House elf's magic is being blocked. House elf is being made of house elf magic, house elf…Koki not have energy." she blinked heavily as if ready to sleep. Lucius shook the elf. "What is the status of the manor?" Koki replied. "Mistress' household be under attack by creature traders. Theys be destroying the wards. Mistress, young master and guests is being trapped in their wards. Mistress be going to fortify receiving hall." Lucius assumed anti-portkey and anti-apparation wards were erected. Draco was now beginning to understand the severity of their situation. "Is the floo network functional?" Koki shook her head weakly then passed out.
Lucius took a breath then steeled himself. He grabbed Draco's arm and started dragging him to the floo station in the receiving hall. The boy remained silent, unwilling to question his anxious father. The portraits sneered down at them but Draco had learnt to ignore them. It was a bit of a walk from the guest wing to the receiving hall and by the time they were half-way there Draco's breath was starting to get heavy.
He wondered to himself if they were lost when the wall exploded inward. He screamed in fright as both he and Lucius tumbled to the floor. He made an attempt to protect his face from the falling debris. His ears were ringing rather loudly and for a moment he feared he was going deaf. He raised his head dazedly, idly wondering if he had a concussion because his vision seemed to be doubling. Then he realized that no, he wasn't seeing double. Only one of the similarly dressed figures raised their wands.
" Depulso Duo!" the spell hit one of the wizards and they were both hurled down the hall to settle in a crumpled heap. He turned his head to see his father with his wand posed to cast another spell if needed. "Come, Draco. And stay close." The blonde cast some stunning spells for good measure then they continued down the stairs once more. Considering that they knew the intruders were in the house, it was unnerving that they managed to make it to the receiving hall without any more interceptions.
Draco was about to make his way in when Lucius grabbed his arm. He brought a finger to his lips as a sign to be quiet. He whispered a spell that let him sense through the wall. The room was occupied by five figures. He assumed Blaise and Pietra were in the group, and the rest were the attackers. He paused to think then looked around himself. He saw a closet nearby. Making up his mind, he shoved his son into the tiny room. Draco struggled once he realized what was happening. "Father, no! I won't have you dealing with them alone." "This isn't up for debate, Draco. I need you to stay here while I try to free our friends." Draco shook his head resolutely. "No. I will help you. I'm not a helpless child anymore." He raised his wand. Lucius smiled wanly and pulled Draco into a firm hug. "Oh, Dragon. I'm sorry." Bracing himself, he cast a stunner at his son. Draco stiffened in his arms and he pulled back. He gently laid the boy down in the supplies closet and made sure he was as hidden as possible. Then he locked the door with his strongest locking spells and silenced the room.
Just in time too because someone opened the door to the receiving hall. Lucius quickly flung himself around the corner and out of sight. "Jim and Cain are not back yet. How hard could it be to take a weak submissive veela and his son?" One of the two grumbled. The other stayed silent. Their footsteps came closer and Lucius prepared to defend himself. "Stop." The previously silent man instructed. A bead of sweat crawled down the blonde's face at the tension.
The closet door rattled when one of them tried to open it. "They're hiding here." Lucius' eyes widened then narrowed in anger. No one will hurt his son. Never again. Gathering his courage he abandoned his hiding spot. The two men were startled by his appearance and turned with their wands raised. Lucius wouldn't wait for them to cast anything. " Depulso!" he shouted. The spell was aimed at the floor before the two men, which exploded in a shower of dust and stone. The men shouted in surprise as they were peppered by the rubble. Lucius flicked his wand once more. " Diffindo!" The cutting spell tore at one of the men's leg. He went down screaming and cursing.
A silent spell shot out of the settling dust. It transformed mid-air into an arrow aimed straight for his chest. A slash of his wand deflected the arrow. Another wave transfigured it into an eagle. The bird of prey squawked ferociously as it descended on the man. " Stupefy!" the bird was hurled into the wall and the broken pieces of the arrow were all that was left of it. Unperturbed the blonde hid behind a wall once again. He transfigured the arrow pieces into a couple of rats. " Geminio." The rats multiplied from four to eight then sixteen then attacked the men. The rodents managed to distract them and Lucius prepared another spell to incapacitate. He emerged just as he heard " Priori Incantatem!" The rats disappeared. " Depuslo!" He threw up a shield but the spell was overpowered so his shield was shattered and he was hurled to the floor, hard. He groaned. He was sure his head was bleeding. The men approached, one limping noticeably. The one hit with the cutting spell pointed his wand at him angrily. " Avada Kedavra!" "NO!" his partner shouted in surprise and outrage but it was too late. Shocked, Lucius tried to hurl himself to the side so the spell barely missed him.
Heart pounding, he stabbed the wand into the ground. It shook violently and vines shot out of it to bind the men. They slashed at the vines but Lucius poured as much magic as he could and eventually, the plants overpowered one of them. The other man managed to get enough leverage to point his wand at the root of the vines. A burst of flames was expelled from its tip. Lucius moved back, shielding his face from the fire. A spell tore at his shoulder and he clutched at the bleeding limb. He cast a shielding charm to block more spells. Now he knew they weren't meant to kill him he was a bit calmer, but the bastards were too close to his son for comfort.
Ducking behind a corner he cast at a pile of rubble. With some concentration and a bit of magic the masonry gathered to form a stone golem. It was unsteady, slow and dumb but it would get the job done. It lumbered towards the intruder with a growl of rocks grinding together. It was immediately bombarded by spellfire, chipping at the stonework. Lucius darted around the distraction. He animated a nearby suit of armor to attack them. As the golem crumbled one of the man focused on the armor. The other sent stunning spells at him. Lucius summoned debris into their path. He sent a flock of birds towards them. They stumbled away from the closet. " Glacius!" The birds froze and dropped away like flies. " Diffindo!" the blonde cast once more. The two were knocked back further. Lucius took guard at the door. "There's definitely someone at the door." The more reserved of the two muttered. The other chuckled. "I bet it's his brat. You fight pretty well, blondie." Lucius stood firm in a dueling stance. "You will not have access to him." He said seriously. The men expressed amusement at his statement. Lucius didn't care.
" Avada Kedavra." The green spell shot straight at them. The two floundered in shock and dived in opposite directions. " Incarcerus!" One of them fell into the binding spell. The other rolled to a stop safely. The man growled angrily. "You will pay for that!" he shouted, casting a barrage of curses. Lucius blocked most of them but bone shattering curse got his arm and his thigh developed a painful rash. Once he got an opening he slashed his wand diagonally. " Impedimenta." The spell was easily blocked but it was only a distraction. " Sectumsempra!" Lacerations appeared spontaneously all over the target's torso, bleeding profusely. The man gasped in pain before dropping to the floor and bleeding to death. " Expelliumus." The bound man's wand flew into his hand. Wide eyes stared at him in fear. Lucius decided to just knock him unconscious.
He cautiously entered the receiving hall to find madam Zabini standing over the prone form of another wizard. Blaise was unconscious and still bound. Acting with haste he cast a rennervate. He immediately gathered a traumatized Blaise into his arms, ignoring his broken arm. The boy held back his tears, only taking in deep breaths of his uncle's comforting scent. He had heard many terrible stories about the creature hunters. He was so scared. He was drinking tea at by the fireplace when they emerged through the floo network. He had tried to defend himself and stop them but he wasn't strong enough. They bound him and left him there to catch the others. "It's ok. You're ok." Lucius mummered. "Where's Draco?" Pietra asked with urgency. "He's safe." He assured. Once his brain caught up with the fact that they were safe relief washed over him and he started crying. The Zabini matriarch hugged them both, cooing to calm them down. "You did well, Lucius. You're both fine." He nodded in content.
"Where is Draco?" she asked again. The blonde instructed her on where to find his son. She went to retrieve and revive the boy. Draco was clearly angry at his father and Lucius had to promise never to do that again and to make it up to him later. Pietra used the floo to call the Aurors. Lucius was given emergency healing but refused to go to St' Mungos. By morning statements were taken and the criminals were taken care of. Pietra encouraged the two teens to go back to bed. They refused to budge. So Mrs. Zabini had ordered the revitalized elf to make coffee for Lucius and herself. The boys had chosen to sleep on the couches, Draco's head on the older blonde's lap and Blaise by his mother's side.
"Lucius." Pietra's voice drew his attention. She had a concerned look on her face. "Are you alright?" Lucius took a moment to answer, thinking about how close he came to death. It should have been easy to defend against them. He thought about how he had served the dark lord skillfully. But that wasn't him. He was..."Weak." "Pardon?" Lucius raised his eyes sullenly to meet Pietra's "I'm so weak." She gave him an incredulous look. "You were able to fight off four fully capable wizards. You were not weak today, love." He turned back to look into his coffee, at the bandaged fingers absorbing warmth from it. "Perhaps." He sniffled. Then, out of the blue he chuckled. At his friend's inquiring gaze he said. "This may be odd but I can't help but think if the hunter will live to see their trial." For a moment Pietra was confused until she remembered who her friend's dominant was. She hoped her laughter didn't sound as hysterical as she thought. Every creature hybrid's lifelong fear of catching a creature hunter's interest was finally coming true. She had faced one of them, more may be coming. They survived this encounter, but if this was the extent of their strength they may be in for a hard ment by Windows User: Harry deals with it
~Scene Change~
Harry replaced his black leather gloves. "Clean this up." He ordered. "Hai." Yahiko replied more enthusiastically than one would expect from someone who'd just been instructed to dispose of a corpse. Bathilda Bagshot was still tied to her couch. She was foaming at the mouth after her mind had been torn apart. In her last moments she had regretted betraying information about these people to Albus. Her and Akatsuki representatives had met a few times and she had met Harry Potter only once before now. They had coaxed information on Albus' past out of her. An exchange of galleons and an oath later she had told what she knew. Doubt however drove her to tell Albus about their inquiries. She thought she was being discreet but clearly she had underestimated their intel.
The old woman's elf lay dead at the door. He narrowed his eyes in thought. The information he got out of her was good but he couldn't use it against Dumbledore because of the oath he took. Not directly anyway. Instead, he had each of their conversations recorded the muggle way. All he had to do was hand those recordings to the goblins.
"Harry-sama." Harry turned to Kabuto who had just entered. The silverette bowed at him. "Any news, Kabuto-kun?" He only passed a letter to him. Harry looked it over. It was from Draco. It had a red seal at the corner signifying it was important. A flick of his finger tore the top of the envelope open. He took out the letter to read. Each paragraph made the look in his eyes colder. "Yahiko, leave that to Kabuto. I have a more important task for you." The orange-haired man placed the wrapped body on the ground. "What do you need, Harry-sama?" "There's a new convict in the ministry cells, a creature trader. I want you to get as much information as you can from him before his sentencing, then dispose of him. Get a few of the guys to wipe out whoever he works for. You have two weeks to get this done."
Yahiko saluted. "Leave it to me." Then shunshinned away. Kabuto picked up the corpse. "Don't tell me they were targeted." Harry scoffed. "They will learn not to mess with what's mine." He flicked his wand to banish away the elf at the door. "Come, I'm sure Orochimaru-kun is waiting on you." "Hai." Kabuto responded. The body would be buried among others in Grodric's Hollow's cemetery.
~Scene Change~
Dumbledore banished the multitude of letters clattering his desk, all from outraged citizens. He buried his head into his hands. Since the beginning of the year someone, an anonymous writer, had been revealing secrets. His secrets, buried for decades. They weren't meant to come out in this way. His relationship with his family. His dreams as a young boy entrapped by fascination to another boy much like him but so much more. The plans they had made together, the time they shared, their violent separation. The heartache born from childish mistakes, his sister Ariana. Grindelwald rotting in Nurmengard. All these secrets were leaked one piece of his life at a time, bringing back old wounds and the festering hate he held for himself.
He was barely holding on to his job at Hogwarts, he had lost his position as Chief Warlock around two weeks ago. The sheep were now seeing the wolf in their midst, or so Rita claimed. Who was it that knew him so well, who intruded into his personal life for their own gain. What did they stand to gain from it? He didn't know; not yet. He had been so focused on Hogwarts, keeping the ministry from collapsing into a seething pile of corruption and malice at their feet that he had forgotten to make sure that past never came up. He was regretting it now.
The only reason he hadn't been booted out of Hogwarts yet was because the high lords and ladies of the Wizengamort knew, perhaps subconsciously, that he was doing a good job protecting their children. Nothing was more important than the next generation of witches and wizards and his very presence in the school deterred most ill will. Especially now with the confusion in the wake of the disappearance of some witches and wizards. Most if not all were from dark families, some vanished from Azkaban, some suspected Death Eaters. The Harry Potter left the wizarding world, went to complete his OWLs and NEWTs early and was not seen in public again. Some speculate he was travelling, some say he was slaying dark wizards, the more intelligent knew there was nothing good about it.
A flick of his wand had the fire burning in the hearth. He took a lemon drop from a bowl to suck on it thoughtfully. In his opinion there was no point in fighting for his positions again; he was quite content to be among the panel of lords and ladies. He was so, so tired of fighting for common sense, something he had long suspected witches and wizards failed to comprehend. It was why he became a professor then headmaster, in the hopes of drilling some sense into young minds. It occasionally worked but some came as a product of their upbringing and misfortune. Those couldn't be helped. He then took up the position of Chief Warlock in an effort to influence adult minds; it failed more than not. Success was success however, as minimal as it was. Again and again he tried to make a better society, even embracing Gellert's concept of the greater good.
Now he recognizes his folly. He took on too much on his shoulders, he became power hungry and the masses fed him. He lost his way. He was tired now, he wanted to withdraw from all of it, sequester himself in the castle where he felt at home. He's been playing games for far too long, ruined too many lives in the quest for greatness, he didn't want to do it anymore. Not for them, not for himself.
He leaned back and smiled. An open letter lay at the corner of the desk. It was a massive from a creature hunter he knew. He had given him the job of capturing the Malfoys in hopes of drawing out Harry Potter. His face twisted in disgust at his past self's folly, the vile man he had become. He was glad it failed, he couldn't take that on his conscience again. Yes, he would pull back and become just another professor, just another headmaster and eventually, just another old man.
The fire flared brighter and for a moment he thought he had a floo call. He peered at the flames and it stared back at him. It was not a person making a floo call, but something looked into him. Ice crept into his veins, his instincts screamed at him to run. But his whole body had frozen, his hands too stiff to draw his wand. His magic swirled around him protectively, but there was no protection against this. This, this abomination. It took his soul in its grip like a child playing with a doll. He was helpless to stop it. Fawkes trilled and swooped over to help his master. The bird's song seemed to affect IT so it flailed. It dropped his soul and awareness slammed back into Dumbledore.
Something, a tendril of darkness, touched Fawkes. He squawked with pain and burst into flames and ashes on the floor. Albus made to scramble back, to go for the elder wand in his sleeve. Cold fingers gripped his face and it was as if all the energy left him. Bottomless black eyes stared into his from a pale face. IT was halfway out of the fire now, flames caressing IT's skin the way icy hands caressed his own as IT loomed over him. Sharp black nails made slight indentations in his skin. "You're tired aren't you?" IT asked in a lilting voice. "Poor mortal, the world has turned against you." Now IT's voice was harsh and cold as iced granite. IT laughed childishly then hissed. "Give your soul to me." "Don't you want to be free child?"
IT loosened IT's hold on his face only to embrace him from behind, like a mother holds a despairing child. Something in him flinched at the contact, cried and flailed in the presence of this creature. "They will bother you no longer. You'll go on the next great adventure." "You'll meet your pathetic family and friends." "They're waiting for you patiently, Albus." The name passed IT's lips so freely, so lovingly, so…he shuddered and felt his resolve breaking. "Who…" "It doesn't matter." IT whispered in his ear. "I can take care of everything." Something slithered on his skin, INTO him. His breath stuttered. "There's no need to hold on so tightly. Someone else will take care of everything now. Let go." "Give me your life." "I'm here for you." "It'll be so much fun." "Let go." He felt so safe, so free. He didn't want to be him anymore. He could rest, couldn't he? He had done everything he could, someone else could take it from here. "Yes, child. That's it." He didn't have to keep fighting. He was so warm. "Yes. I want to rest." IT giggled again. "Good boy." He smiled in content and drifted into a peaceful slumber.
Dumbledore slumped forward just as the entity disappeared into him. Fawkes trilled sadly from the ashes. His master was gone. What he left behind was much more dangerous than he could handle. The old man's limbs twitched. His body forced itself to a sitting position like a marionette was trying out their doll for the first time. Inky black eyes looked out from a curtain of snowy hair. A grin stretched wide on the withered face. Fawkes froze on the floor, wild instincts telling him if he didn't move IT wouldn't see him.
Dumbledore pulled himself to his feet, stumbled and used the desk to catch himself. He took a few experimental steps. He stumbled once more and ended up in his overly-cushioned chair. He pushed locks of hair from his face. "It's been a while since we've been in a body like this. We think we should make make us younger." He spoke. He called up his magic and shuddered. The old man's magic was still fighting them. It could be used but it would be more difficult than normal. The man named Albus Dumbledore wasn't dead yet. No, he was too stubborn and powerful for that. He was just sleeping for now and would awaken someday. Until then, they had so many toys to play with.
AN: This was an attempt to show that Lucius is not just some arm candy. I hope I was successful. What do you think I should do with Dumbledore? Should he stay at Hogwarts or try to regain his position as Chief Warlock?