A/N: I don't own Harry Potter. Sigh lol. I've been inspired to try writing this ship because of Her Most Trusted Advisor on Ao3! Check it out, it's fantastic. Enjoy!
ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Nothingness.
Then suddenly, as things were shifting, moving around, there was ground again. Something tangible. Something that he couldn't see—it most definitely started to affect him, and he didn't know why.
The sunlight. It was bugging him. A scowl soon found itself working onto the Malfoy's face, as a slight groan came from him. "Narcissa—" he tried to speak, but cut himself off.
Sunlight? Why sunlight? He anxiously asked himself, as he shot his eyes open.
This— this…
Wasn't where he had been.
Last thing he remembered… What was it…? His mind attempted to recall, but he couldn't for whatever reason. But that wasn't what was alarming to him; he found himself sitting up on one of the beds in the…H-Hogwarts. He swallowed. Why did this happen? He looked down at his hand, opening and closing it a bit.
A-At least it seems like I'm tangible.
He swallowed, feeling the same at least.
Hair, check.
Robes… check. Expensive.
Height, check— wait a minute….
The platinum blonde hopped off, suddenly feeling… shorter. Immediately, he paled. I better not have— He cut himself off as he turned and saw himself in a mirror nearby. Mystified, he went up to it and placed a hand onto the surface, slowly starting to tremble at the sight. What the hell? If he had to guess, he was about… what? Thirteen, fourteen? His eyes widened suddenly in realization, as he stepped back and pulled up his left sleeve, expecting the Mark to be still there, mocking him with its presence.
Okay, this was just too weird now.
NOTHING. Nothing was on his forearm, not even the usual faint outline it was.
He ran a hand over the spot, almost expecting it to magickally appear. He furrowed his brows, looking again into the mirror.
How was this even possible?
I-I'm… He didn't know to finish that statement. Granted, the Dark Lord had started to become more maniacal towards the end, but… He shook his head. It had been truly getting too overwhelming to balance two of his favorite things.
Family, and Power. Light, and Dark.
Freedom… That was too strange of a concept, almost. Did he want to figure out how to get it… again?
Or… Perhaps not?
He shifted a bit on his feet, feeling his stomach twist slightly. No, he couldn't. Narcissa had suffered too much for his choices, hadn't she?
Yes.. Power had gotten in the way, too much.
He clenched a fist, as he thought that. He could always find another way to power, no doubt, in his mind. Another outlet as well for future rage towards his Father, assuming this was… his school years. He swallowed. Was he even prepared to deal with Abraxas?
Oh, how he just wanted to run, right then and there.
Bury himself in a good book, or some art.
A huff, as he finally forced himself to change the subject at hand, as he looked for indication of what day it was. He saw Madam Pomfrey starting to do her rounds as she came out of her office, and he did a doubletake. "…Pomfrey?" He asked, as he looked over to her. Well, that was a perfect start, wasn't it?
She paused from what she was doing and threw a concerned look over towards him. "What are you doing out of bed, boy?"
His eyebrow twitched slightly. Oh, he was going to hate this. "I'm well enough."
She shook her head, shooing him to get back into bed. "I insist— You didn't look well when she had found you outside of the Hogwarts grounds."
Ah, that's where it had been? A flash, and he saw himself walking down Hogsmeade's streets, looking in every nook and crany he could find. That's right, he reminded himself, as another thing occurred to him. " 'She'?" He questioned.
She didn't answer, but instead pointed to the bed.
Lucius narrowed his eyes and didn't budge at first. "I'm fine."
She tapped her shoe on the ground, waiting.
Bloody hell. He didn't have time for this. He finally relented after a couple of minutes and sat down onto his bed. "Happy?" He said sarcastically.
"Yes," she answered honestly, sighing, as she stepped closer to check his vitals. "She—" She started, as she waved her wand over him to see how he was doing. "Miss Granger."
Lucius looked suspiciously at her. "Wait, what?" Does that mean she found the dark artifact?
Pomfrey nodded, smiling. "She's quite a caring girl, that one, she dropped what she was doing and helped you out."
Lucius studied her closely. Apparently she doesn't quite remember me either… then again, she's had several students through here, no doubt. "I… see," he said in a guarded voice, thankful at least he could still retain what he had learned over the years about behavior.
"She should be coming later today to check on you," Pomfrey said, eyes glinting a bit. "It seems like everything is okay— Your magickal Flow seems fine."
Lucius nodded in acknowledgement, and scoffed. "Why would she?"
Pomfrey shrugged. "With everything happening this year, with Black escaped… It seems like she simply just wants to make sure you're okay."
Wait, the school year's started… Lucius tossed a look outside, seeing finally what time it had been— Mid-Fall. "Right," he conceded, anxiety now truly starting to grow.
Shit. He had looked for that artifact in the Summer.
Was his Family alright? Draco…
His heart panged deeply. Narcissa. He sat up a bit straighter, and when he was about to say something, she started to speak, "You do look a bit pale yet, so I think it's best to let you here for now."
The boy scoffed. "Fine," he relented, sighing, and slowly laid back down. At least it would give him time to rest… before the Mudblood would show up.
Why do I have to be stuck with her having done this?
Hatred surged forth yet again, as he sighed. He slid his eyes shut, trying to get some rest…
Water. It was the element that hosted the Dark Artifact.
A medium sized puddle sat in middle of the room, and the patriarch inched forward, triumph on his face. It was in there. He just had to figure out the last bit of the puzzle to drag it out of the puddle…
Good thing he had been borderline Ravenclaw.
His gaze went around the room again, searching for anything he might have missed…
The teen's eyes snapped open. Did Hermione find him there in that room? Or somewhere else? Or—
Nearby, he could hear a certain voice, and he felt a sneer come onto his face.
Miss Granger, he thought loudly as he saw her start to approach him with a worried expression. Then Hermione slowly furrowed her brows as she got closer to him. Sharp eyes, pointed face? Looks like— …Draco. "Are you—" she started, but then faltered. "You look like one of the students here at school."
Would it hurt to tell her, at least the partial truth? His family did have some distinctive features, afterall. "And who is that?" He asked simply, cautiously.
"A Malfoy," Hermione quickly said, confident of her conclusion.
Damn Mudblood. Lucius threw on a false smile, easily enough sliding back into his usual self, "…That's correct. Is it truly that obvious..?"
"Extremely," she smirked, then abruptly frowned. "I haven't seen you before."
"Who says I wasn't visiting my relative?" Lucius asked, as he started to push himself up once again, and Hermione stepped back a bit, which made him chuckle. "I'm not going to bite."
Hermione shook her head, shifting a bit on her feet. "I … haven't had much luck dealing with Mal—err, Draco before."
No wonder she's apprehensive. It was still amusing to see, and he barely attempted to hide that. "Why? Do you not get along?"
Hermione sighed a bit hotly. "We just don't," she said evasively. "I see you look much better than you did before— you looked white as a ghost," she commented, and it made Lucius snort.
"Nice aversion."
"Do you do that often?" Hermione titled her head, attempting to study him.
"I'm innocent," he intoned, as she scoffed.
Definitely a Malfoy, nothing but trouble. Hermione thought, crossing her arms. "When you're done, we can go see Dumbledore."
Lucius furrowed his brows. "Why must we go see that dunderhead?"
"Dumbledore is a powerful and wonderful wizard, who you will learn to appreciate in due time," Hermione matter-of-factly told him. "…HE can protect all of us during this time… You must know… Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban a little over a month ago."
Lucius was about to retort, but looked outside again. Over a month… He narrowed his eyes. "Yes, I realize that," he told her, sharply looking back at her, deliberately ignoring her first statement.
Hermione looked pointedly at him, "So let's go."
A little sigh came from the platinum blonde as he finally hopped off the bed entirely, checking for his wand, assuming he had it earlier on him. A sigh of relief. I do. "Lead the way, Mu— what's your name?" He cut himself off wisely enough, instead deciding to play more of his part.
Hermione was already starting to leave, so she didn't quite catch the first bit. "Come on, hurry up then," she told him.
Mudblood wrench! He screamed in his mind, as he ran to catch up, seething. "You could have waited."
"I didn't want to," she shrugged, growing irritated a bit with a Malfoy in her presence for this long already. "I just want to get this over with."
Lucius huffed, as he kept up with her pace along the corridor. "You never did answer my question."
She rounded a corner, as did he. "What question?"
His eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "What is your name?"
"Hermione Granger," she answered him simply after a bit of a pause. "I didn't help you to be remembered by you, or something—"
Lucius shrugged. "Heroics, it seems like, nevertheless." A simple observation, something that wouldn't automatically pull from what his identity was.
She looked at him with a little scowl. "Your point?"
Oh, something to get her all bothered… "One could say you hoped me to be in your debt," he coolly said, as they used one of the shifting staircases and waited until it would stop.
She looked exasperated at that. "Showcasing your Malfoy-ness, aren't you?' She snapped at him, as she purposefully picked up her pace the instant she got off the stairs and started to walk quickly into a corridor up ahead.
Lucius ended up right beside her in pace, smirking. "Am I getting underneath your skin?" He asked, as he kept his vision forward. He could particially feel her righteous judgment digging into him from her glare in that very moment. A chuckle slipped from him, as they once again went around a corner.
They stopped in front of Dumbledore's Gargoyle, imposing as a guard of sorts. What a relief. Dumbledore's presence would definitely give her some peace. "Cockroach clusters," Hermione told the statue, and it moved for them. They easily enough made their way into Dumbledore's office.
Dumbledore's lips smacked as he ate a sweet, a new one from another part of the world. "Mmm, Miss Granger.. I see you were able to retrieve him from the Hospital Wing."
"Yes, professor," she said, eyes curiously wandering towards what Dumbledore was eating. It looked quite delicious, but the thought of so much sugar made her a bit nauseated almost. How can he constantly eat them?
He picked one up and held it out to her. "Care to try one?"
Hermione smiled from being offered. "No, I'm okay, sir. What is it though?"
Dumbledore shrugged, popping another into his mouth. "Zefir. It's a Russian muggle candy."
Lucius's face contorted a bit in slight disgust. Muggle-loving…
It was time for Dumbledore to hold it out towards Lucius. "Care to try?"
The pureblood immediately shook his head. "No," he hissed out, and Dumbledore smiled a bit amused.
"Then you have no right for judgment…" The elderly wizard did a doubletake, studying him closely. "I dare say you look quite familiar…" he trailed off, as he looked at Hermione.
"Could you please excuse us for a moment? I do want to talk to… ah… this Malfoy here alone for a few moments."
Hermione nodded. "Of course, sir," she said, giving a weary look at the blonde, before leaving the office, at least for now.
Finally, Dumbledore could finally relax a bit and a slight twinkle entered his eyes. "I find this quite amusing. I saw you not but a few months ago in my office."
Lucius blinked. "You know then—"
"Yes, Lucius," Dumbledore sat forward slightly. "I must admit, I am curious as to how this had happened. Sounds like a huge mishap— admittedly, a slightly amusing one."
The teen didn't look one bit amused. "Very funny, Dumbledore," he hissed out, getting closer to the man's desk, feeling very imposing all of a sudden, much like earlier in that very year. "One could say I was going Artifact hunting— All perfectly legal, of course."
"Ah, yes, we know how much legality is important to you." Just going along with it, nothing more. The professor looked intrigued, if anything.
Prat! Lucius gritted his teeth. "As I was saying—" He motioned a hand over himself in frustration. "It seems to have de-aged me."
Dumbledore chewed another Zefir in thought, before taking his time and swallowing it. "Hm. Do you remember anything?"
Lucius shrugged a touch, keeping his coldness on his face, even if a hint of irritation leaked through. "Not much I can recall at this given time."
"How old are you now, if you had to guess?"
The teen hummed, "Perhaps fourteen, if I were to guess."
The headmaster scooted out his chair, digging out his wand, holding it over the teenager. "May I? I'll check your exact age," he told him.
Lucius gave a curt nod, and Dumbledore waved his wand over him, a little stream of question marks within white air swirled for a few moments above Lucius's head, before rearranging itself with the information.
"Huh, you're right on the dot, Lucius. Fourteen. And may I also comment on something?"
"What else do you possibly want?" He asked scathingly.
"Your magickal Flow seems a lot brighter. Seems… whatever this artifact did, took that in account as well and… cleansed it, in a sense."
Lucius furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"
"Back to pre-First Wizarding War vibe." Lucius's stomach lurched at that. He was about to comment, but Dumbledore beat him to it. "You don't have your faded Mark, do you?"
A deep scowl formed on Lucius's face. "It's none of your business."
Dumbledore looked honestly at him. "I'm not going to judge you if it is."
"None. Of. Your. Business," Lucius emphasized each word for good measure leaning more and more closer to the older wizard, now hovering almost over Dumbledore's bowl of sweets.
Dumbledore chuckled, holding up a sweet. "Would you like one?"
"No!" Lucius stated angrily, batting the sweet out of the old man's hand, causing it to hit the floor. The professor frowned a bit.
"Now look what you did."
"Argh!" Lucius yelled a bit in frustration spinning around to leave. "I'm going."
Dumbledore perked up a bit, turning his attention back to the other. "And where will you go? You cannot go anywhere for now, Lucius. Not even to your own home, at least not yet, not until you can gain more information about the situation."
That made Lucius freeze from leaving, but he did not turn around just yet. "Then… what do you suggest for me to do, hmm?"
Dumbledore suddenly smiled.
