Dumbledore has taken up an entire side of the ballroom, which means they're not allowed to use the front door, but they can leave through the window. Harry has never been in Hogwarts this early in the morning before, and he's not looking forward to being shoved out into the garden as dawn breaks.

Lucius tugs on his arm and leads him out to a garden on the far side of the grounds. It's beautiful, with rows of tall, well-trimmed bushes and an elegant white fountain in the center. Lucius pauses to take a drink from a glass of water as Harry fiddles with his wand in his pocket. "You're not meant to be using magic in the public areas of Hogwarts," he says gruffly.

Harry glances down. There's a gap in the hedges where he hasn't grown the necessary invisibility cloaks to hide his wand, so there's no way he'll be able to wear it while he's here. "What's so public about the gardens, anyway?" he snaps.

"Well, that's the problem," Lucius says grimly. "They're supposed to be private, and yet no one uses them. Those little trickles of sunlight from the window-line are all the sunlight we're allowed to have. And then, of course, there's the fact that this was originally the garden for the teaching of the underage, where many curses were at their most powerful."

"I'm not underage," Harry says automatically, before thinking back to the photograph of him that his parents keep hidden away. "Is it alright if I use magic in the school?"

"No," Lucius snaps. "Of course not. Why do you even ask?"

"Well, because there are a lot of you. And I'm friends with all of you," Harry says, finally dropping his wand back into his pocket.

Lucius snorts. "Really? You're friends with the Muggle-born that Remus is trying to turn into a werewolf?"

"Of course not." Harry is stiff, and he doesn't know why. "You don't really think we're friends, do you?"

"No." There is no mocking in Lucius' voice. "But it doesn't matter anyway, because I'm not allowed to associate with anyone who's not a werewolf," he says bitterly.

"I'm a half-blood," Harry points out. "Even if I weren't an werewolf, I'd still be a half-blood. I'm a wizard, not a muggle."

Lucius' face is rigid. "I said I'm not friends with people who aren't werewolves," he says. "Why are you trying to turn Remus?"

Harry doesn't want to say out loud that Remus has been trying to turn him. But Lucius is looking at him as if he's just told him he's diseased, and so Harry blinks. "I don't know," he says.

"I don't care," Lucius says in a brittle voice. "It is not my place to meddle in the affairs of others. I am a professor of the Marauders. I am not a friend."

"I know," Harry says, and there is real pity in his voice, which makes Lucius shift, as if Harry's pity is a physical thing. "I'm sorry."

"This is not about you, Harry," Lucius says. "It is about my students. About them. I'm afraid that Remus and I will not be able to maintain our relationship as we have been."

"Why not?" Harry asks, a note of panic in his voice.

"It has to do with secrecy, and secrets," Lucius says darkly. "They are not my words, I'm afraid. I've heard them whispered by a few of my students. A dark power is being used by the headmaster to keep the Marauders under his thumb."

"How?" Harry asks.

"I think it has something to do with the books." Lucius shakes his head. "I don't know. The headmaster's library is as much a mystery to me as it is to them. I know a few names of my staff there, because they've mentioned it to me, but that's it."

"But why?" Harry asks, willing to believe that if Lucius tells him the wrong thing, he will feel better about the subject.

"The books," Lucius says in a low voice. "It's dangerous, Harry. The Dark Lord knows it. Voldemort has wanted the school for as long as I have been at Hogwarts. I don't doubt that he is trying to acquire it. That is all I know. I've been told, however, that the castle is surrounded by wards."

"Wards?" Harry says. "From what you know, how can wards keep the Dark Lord out?"

"Wards are not strong enough," Lucius says. "Even if the school were entirely protected by wards, the wards have to be of a magical nature. There is a very thin wall that separates Hogwarts from the rest of the world. If someone was to get past that wall, Voldemort could have access to the whole place. He could lay any trap he wanted, and there would be nothing the Marauders could do about it. The Headmaster and I do what we can to protect the castle, but it is not a substitute for strong wards. The Headmaster said to me that if the wards are breached, the Dark Lord and I have no chance of fighting back. It is impossible for us to defend ourselves against that kind of power."

"What if there's a secret passage in the dungeons?" Harry asks. "I've never been, but Dumbledore says there is one."

Lucius nods slowly. "The Dark Lord would never allow his name to be invoked in the dungeons," he says. "It is too great a risk."

A/N: It started weird and got kind of ... interesting?