Disclaimer: JK Rowling is the creator of the HP universe and its characters. I do not own anything except the rather strange plot bunny, and I solely profit in reviews.
Years Ago From Now: Chapter Seven
Lying in her bed shortly after a quiet dinner that night, Hermione concluded what needed to be done. There was no possible way that she could leave now while still pregnant if she found a way to go. If she left, it would either kill Draco or take him back with her… leaving Lucius alone and her as Draco's caregiver. Neither of those were something she could do with good conscience.
No, Draco Malfoy was entitled to his life, including his mistakes. She couldn't erase that.
She resolved to put aside her plans for leaving until after the baby was born. If she found the solution before he was born, it would be too tempting to leave. Once Lucius could care for him, she would go then. Until Draco was born, she would be the best possible mother she could be.
She got up from bed and started a letter to Lily Potter, telling her of her decision to stay long enough to give birth to Lucius's son. She requested that, while she wished for Lily to try to find a solution, she didn't want to know of it until after Draco's birth. She did express her desire to still be in frequent contact with the other witch, though, hoping for more time spent with a woman she felt she could truly be friends with.
She was just finishing the letter when someone knocked on her door. Quickly covering the letter with a scrap piece of parchment and a bottle of ink, she stood from her chair, calling for Lucius to enter. As the door opened, she remembered she had already changed into the long silken nightgown.
She blushed as she walked by him to the bathroom, grabbing the robe off of the hook on the wall just inside the door. Putting it on, she looked at Lucius. He was stood ramrod straight next to the door, looking at her with a steely gaze. Next to his waist, he held a glass of brandy with only a sip or two left in the bottom. He put the glass down on a side table next to the door.
"I'm sorry, Lucius. I didn't expect to see you until the morning," she said, trying to determine why he was here.
He took assessment of her before whipping his wand from his sleeve and casting it to her wand on the nightstand, summoning it wordlessly to himself.
He looked at it appraisingly. "Much different than your old one, I suspect. I am no expert in wandlore, of course. I do know that wands don't usually change drastically for a person. A slightly longer length, a new core of the same material, in general. This looks very different. Feels different," he muttered. His voice held just the slightest bit of slur, and she suspected that the discarded glass of brandy was not his first. He still seemed fully capable, though.
Hermione remained completely still, assessing the situation. What was going on? He seemed… predatory. Of course, the fact that he was holding her wand made that obvious.
"I've been stewing all evening, thinking. I think I have come up with a solution, not that I know how."
"Lucius, you are scaring me," Hermione said, trying to inch her way back toward the bathroom.
He flicked his wand, and she heard the door slam shut behind her, keeping her in the bedroom.
"I spoke to Healer Wynne when I said I needed to fill out paperwork. I asked her how extensive personality changes should be. How different is someone when they don't have their own personal history to rely on to tell them who they are as a person. She… she said it was normal for you to question your beliefs or your past decisions, but she said that who you are as a person is who you are."
His wand flicked again, and she felt herself slide backward across the floor as she was bound to the bedpost. "Lucius!" she said, feeling panic come over her in a wave.
"My Narcissa… the one I married… she's cruel. Even when she doesn't need to be. She does not thank house elves. She feels repugnance for most everyone, not just muggleborns. She hates reading. In fact, she hates being indoors. Most of all, she hates me. On a level I have never quite understood, she hates me. And she hated the idea of having my child, of any child really. Those things are not her history; I truly believe they were so utterly engrained in her that there was absolutely no hope," he said, slowly stalking toward her.
"Then, you have your… accident. All of the sudden, you are more intelligent and kind… not just to me, but to the house elves, for Circe's sake! Then, today… oh, that was the final piece of the puzzle. She would never feel joy like mine when faced with the baby inside of you." He was a breath away, peering stormily into her eyes as anger and intrigue warred over his expression. "So, that brings me to my ultimate question, Narcissa, who the fuck are you?"
Hermione had always considered herself to be very composed and in control of what her reactions were. Growing up, she did not allow herself to grow angry or cry tears of frustration when the other children had picked on her. She had prided herself on not showing her fear frequently throughout the war, hiding it behind a well-constructed façade with the singular drive to succeed in their missions. And even when she was being tortured by Bellatrix, she did not give away the information, despite desperately wanting the pain to end.
So, she would spend the rest of her days unsure of why, in the face of being outed and potentially murdered by a known Death Eater, her response was not to shut down, not to get angry or defiant, not even to laugh like a crazy person at her circumstances. She felt tears suddenly overflowing, spilling down her cheeks as she audibly sobbed. A glance at Lucius would have confirmed it was not the reaction he had expected either. He still looked angry but also completely out of his element.
"I…I… I don't know how I got here!" she wailed, trying to stop her tears but finding herself to be completely incapable.
"Boden!" he called, causing the aged house elf to pop into the room. "I need a calming draught. And Veritaserum, please."
The knowledge that everything was bound to come out and be passed on to the Dark Lord was enough to take her straight to inconsolable. Gods, if it somehow was possible to change the future, she might have just singlehandedly doomed them all.
Hermione didn't relax until the calming draught was forcefully poured down her throat by her "husband". After that, he released her from being tied to the bedpost and instead firmly walked her to the desk chair and bound her to it instead. He sat her down and then took the small vial of crystal clear liquid.
"In case you are concerned at all, I have already looked at the risks of using Veritaserum on a pregnant woman. I planned to figure out if you were purposefully having miscarriage regardless. It will be fine, but it should work a bit easier on you. Two drops should do."
Hermione, in a rather infantile struggle, refused to open her mouth. Lucius rolled his eyes as he grabbed her cheeks in vice like grip, applying pressure between the two jaws to force it open hard enough that tears sprung back to her eyes.
After tilting her head back, he dropped in the promised drops, straight to the back of her throat where she had no choice but to swallow. "Your refusal already leads me to believe that answers are to be had, my dear."
Hermione felt the effects of the potion kick in, leaving her in a somewhat introspective mood. The urge to fight against any questions he had rapidly diminished, though she was still there, listening.
"Are you Narcissa Malfoy?"
"Yes," she answered, the word slipping from her lips as easily as the time of day or what color grass is. They both looked surprised at her answer, but Hermione was inwardly moreso. This meant that, on some level, she was Narcissa Malfoy. People under Polyjuice Potion always answered with their true name as they were just wearing a temporary disguise. He noted her surprise.
"Have you always been Narcissa Malfoy?"
"No," was the immediate response, causing Lucius to look even more interested.
"How long have you been Narcissa Malfoy?"
"Since the morning I passed out in the bathroom."
Lucius's eyes widened, and he was silent as the implications of why on Earth someone would take over his wife's body. After many moments, he had a follow up question. "What purpose do you have here?"
"I don't know."
He looked very surprised at this. "Where is the original Narcissa Malfoy?"
"I don't know."
"Do you support the Dark Lord?"
"No."
He started to pace back and forth. "Are you a member of the Order of the Phoenix?"
"Yes," she responded.
"Who sent you here?" Excitement had lit up in Lucius's eyes, and she suspected that was not a good thing, though she refused to look at him. She could just imagine what kind of favor he could accrue with Lord Voldemort if he handed over a member of the Order of the Phoenix to him.
"I suspect I sent myself here," the answer was a strange one indeed, and Lucius cocked his head to the side.
"Have you ever met Lucius Malfoy before today?"
"Yes."
"When did you first meet?" he asked, eagerness coloring his voice.
She was quiet for a moment, as her brain formulated the answer. The summer before second year. "August of 1992."
Lucius reeled back as if struck. He snapped his fingers. "Boden!" The older house elf appeared before Lucius, glancing curiously at Hermione in her chair. "Boden, fetch me a chair to sit in, if you please. The antidote for Veritaserum, as well."
If Hermione had been in her right mind, she would have been surprised at how Lucius spoke to the house elf. At the moment, though, the strangeness of it all slipped by her.
Within another minute, Lucius was seated in a chair across from her and holding another vial before her. "I feel as if any information you have should be consensually shared at this point. We don't want to cause something unexpected to happen when time is involved."
He pulled out the dropper, and Hermione willingly opened her mouth this time. He stopped though. "First, I have a few more essential questions."
She closed her mouth, waiting for him to finish. She didn't really have a choice… if he sold her out to the Dark Lord… well, maybe she could piss him off into killing her quickly. He certainly was known to be temperamental.
"How do you feel about Lord Voldemort?"
"I would stand against any incarnation of that man. He is evil and needs to die."
Lucius swallowed thickly. "What is your opinion of me?"
"You believe in the Dark Lord's cause, but you do love your family more. You hate muggleborns and believe purebloods to be superior. You are a loyal follower and likely to take me straight to Lord Voldemort," she responded.
A smirk crossed Lucius's face that would have confused her. "The antidote then," he said, holding out the dropper. She took the drops happily, though the fear of what her reality was now started to come in more acutely.
Lucius sat back in his seat, leaning against arms rested on his thighs. "You didn't come here on purpose?"
Hermione shook her head. Lucius nodded. "Then, I suppose fate has smiled on me. Wait a moment."
He untied her with a swish of his wand. Then, he walked to Narcissa's desk and drew out a piece of parchment. Grabbing a quill, he leaned over the desk and slowly started to write. After several minutes, he pulled back, casting a charm to dry the ink wandlessly. "Boden!"
The house elf appeared again and Lucius looked at him appraisingly. "Boden, you answer primarily and above all others to me, correct?"
Boden nodded, fervently.
Lucius glanced at Hermione before looking back at Boden. "Boden, I am going to give this woman questions to ask me. If she tries to run before asking the questions I give her or asks me any more than these before I receive the antidote for the Veritaserum, you are to incapacitate her in a way that will permanently prevent her from leaving here. Do you understand?" It was a wise request to make, as House Elves were not allowed to intentionally kill a human. It would serve the same purpose though. Being locked in the dungeon with no legs or arms would be a difficult way to live life, and she knew that Elf Magic was not weak.
Boden's eyes widened comically, but he nodded. He looked worried.
With a flick of his wrist, Lucius held out the paper to Hermione. Utterly confused by the turn of events, she took the paper, looking over the questions. Her eyes widened as Lucius Malfoy seated himself again and picked up the clear vial of Veritaserum. "To leaps of faith," he said quietly before dripping three drops onto his tongue.
Hermione's mouth felt very dry indeed as she looked at the paper. Quietly, Boden walked to stand behind her, reading over her shoulder.
"What is your name?" she asked, quietly.
"Lucius Malfoy," was the expected response.
"How do you feel about the Dark Lord/Lord Voldemort?"
"I fervently wish for his quick defeat. He is a monster. He needs to die."
Hermione was not sure if any answer to any question she had ever heard had surprised her more. She felt how she suspected Luke Skywalker felt upon finding out that Darth Vader was his father. Complete and utter shock had her very quiet for several minutes as she looked at Lucius Malfoy's calm expression.
She looked at the list of questions for a moment before asking the next. "Why do you serve him?"
"I have no choice. I was given to him by my father and contracted to marry into a family of strong supporters. I would gladly turn spy if I thought I could safely do so."
If Hermione didn't know that time travel simply worked in a loop, she would think she was in some sort of alternate reality. As far as she knew, though, that was simply impossible.
"Do you intend to turn me over to the Dark Lord for any reason?" she read off the paper nervously.
"No." The word caused a weight to fall from her as what she currently considered her biggest concern melted away.
She continued, "what is your position on witches and wizards of less than pure blood?"
"As long as they respect our traditions and attempt to assimilate, I have no opinion one way or another. They are magical, some stronger than others."
"How do you feel about muggles?"
"They are unfortunate not to have magic, but I harbor no ill will toward them. I believe we should be separate unless absolutely necessary because of the fallout if they, on the whole, knew of the magical community."
Was it truly possible that for all of the years she had known the supposed character of Lucius Malfoy, she was incorrect? She ran a hand through her hair, slightly put off by how easily she did so. It was not her hair, and her fingers did not get caught in the kinks of curls, instead sliding smoothly through the perfectly straight tresses.
"Why do people believe you to be a blood fanatic and loyal supporter of Lord Voldemort?" she continued.
"My father has raised me to believe in blood purity. It is expected of my family to hold to those beliefs. My mother, Adeline, believed different, and I agreed with her, but she taught me to hide it for my safety. I intend to raise my child similarly."
"What is your position with the Dark Lord?" She could feel Boden practically shaking behind her in unease at the situation.
"I do what is necessary, but I am not heavily involved outside of financing the cause."
"How does Narcissa Malfoy who knowingly wed Lucius Malfoy feel about your stances and positions?" was the last question on the list.
"She wants me to take a more active role and considers me weak for not being more aggressive. She believes I am a true follower but thinks I lack conviction out of unwillingness to get my hands dirty or risk going to Azkaban. She is desperate to get out of the marriage and sully my reputation in the process so that she never has to deal with me again and is not faulted for the marriage ending."
Folding up the paper, Hermione put it back on the desk, grabbing the vial of antidote that had been left there. With a strange level of sympathy that she didn't completely understand, she delicately cupped his jaw as she dropped in the antidote. She sat down across from him again, watching as his eyes cleared to their usual sharp intelligence.
"It seems we have a lot more to talk about than I expected," she said quietly.
"You may leave, Boden," Lucius calmly said, leaning back in his seat and getting comfortable. The house elf nodded solemnly before disappearing from the room.
Author's Note: I wish I knew the literary equivalent to a mic drop. The pieces are falling together into how we can get to a Lucius Malfoy that will one day be declared a hero of the light from a Lucius Malfoy all have previously believed to be very dark, even if devoted.
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