The Diadem didn't seem to be doing the Dark Lord any favors, Lucius reflected, not if the almost manic gleam in his eye reflected his mental state.
The Dark Lord kept muttering to himself, as though he heard voices that none of the rest of them heard. It was unsettling to think that he'd put his faith and the future of his family in the hands of a madman.
He'd had his doubts when the Dark Lord kept sending people against the muggleborn girl to die. Once, twice maybe, but once she killed six skilled Death Eaters, he should have taken care of the problem himself.
Instead he'd continued to bleed the organization dry. The loss of a few minions was no great loss, but losing that many had damaged morale. It had made recruitment much more difficult.
Forcing Draco to risk death had been the last straw. If Hebert had any chance at all, Lucius would have sided with her. As it was, he was trapped.
He'd seen the Dark Lord fight, and the man was a monster. Nobody stood a chance against him other than Dumbledore, and Dumbledore was a monster too.
Worse, he had Bellatrix on his side, and she was a monster of an entirely different type. She enjoyed inflicting pain more than any of the rest of them, even the Dark Lord himself.
There were only twelve of them left, and it felt as though the other eleven were a chain around Lucius's neck.
"Watch for filthy muggle traps," the Dark Lord said. "The girl is clever."
"What do we look for?" Crabbe asked.
"Strings, wires, pressure plates," Voldemort said. "Haven't any of you ever seen a movie?"
"A movie?"
"Muggle entertainment. It's probably where she's been getting some of her ideas."
Lucius wondered if it was a test. Admitting to watching muggle movies was tantamount to saying that you weren't fully on board with the pureblood agenda.
Everyone looked puzzled, and Lucius wondered just how genuine it was. He hadn't ever seen a muggle movie, of course, but he'd have thought that Crabbe or Goyle might.
The rumors that the Dark Lord was a half blood might be true, though. The idea wasn't something that bothered Lucius. The Malfoys knew enough about inbreeding to know that new blood was important.
Muggleborn provided new blood, and they married among themselves, or they married half bloods. A few generations later, those became purebloods, and the Malfoys were happy to marry those, even if they came from ignoble beginnings.
It was important that a family paid its dues, something the muggleborn didn't seem to understand.
Many of them seemed to have no sense of family at all. It made Lucius wonder what was happening in the muggle world, that people no longer paid attention to their parents, to their grandparents, to their family name.
It hadn't always been that way.
Crabbe and Goyle were going first; apparently the Dark Lord considered them the most expendable. Lucius was pleased to be near the back with the Dark Lord, although at least one of the Terror's traps had come from behind.
They were making good time now, and other than occasional unexplained blood trails, they weren't seeing any more bodies either. It made Lucius uncomfortable.
They'd sent two hundred men down to kill the Terror. There should have been sounds of fighting, or if they'd finished the job, they should have sent someone back to alert them that the job was done.
Instead, there was a steady, oppressive silence. Even the pictures had all seemingly fled, although Lucius imagined that he could feel eyes on him from everywhere.
If the girl could kill two hundred men on her own, then he might have misjudged her.
There were no traps to be found, and less than five minutes later they found themselves outside the door to the Great Hall.
The Dark Lord gestured, and the doors slammed open.
To Lucius's surprise, there were no injured aurors inside. The tables were all gone, and the only thing in the room was Taylor Hebert, sitting on what looked like a throne.
It had been transfigured, he was sure; otherwise he'd have to believe that she'd already had time to kill two hundred men, de-skull them, and then use the skulls to make a chair, all while they'd been walking down the stairs.
Even if she'd transfigured it, it was an impressive piece of work. It meant that she'd spent time figuring out how to make a skull throne.
Lucius glanced at the Dark Lord.
He didn't have a skull throne.
"I expected you earlier," the girl said. Was she filing her nails? "I'd have certainly taken care of the problem myself after the second or third time my men went missing, but I guess some people are less... proactive."
The Dark Lord stared at her.
"I've been busy," he said. He sounded amused.
He didn't step into the room. Instead he studied the girl; this was the likely the first time he'd seen her in person, and given the size of the Great Hall, she seemed even smaller.
She'd always seemed larger than life to Lucius, with a charisma that belied her age, but it didn't really translate at this distance. She looked like a little girl on the throne, although
"Learn to take care of your underlings," she said. "It's like Dark Lord 101. You can't have minions without men. Women maybe..."
"Shut your filthy mouth, mudblood!" Bellatrix spat. "You don't deserve to be in the same room as our Dark Lord."
"Have any of you considered changing sides?" the girl asked. "I've got an excellent dental plan, and while my blood is not pure, I'm at least human enough to have all my body parts intact."
She tapped her nose.
Bellatrix screamed and ran forward, green light lashing out.
The girl waved her wand negligently, and the light stopped cold in front of her.
Everyone froze.
There was no defense against the killing curse. It simply wasn't possible. Even Dumbledore hadn't figured out a defense. A thirteen year old girl had managed it?
The girl smirked.
Bellatrix lunged forward, casting spell after spell, but they all bounced off the invisible shield in front of the girl.
Hebert gestured with her wand. She didn't speak an incantation, and she looked bored.
Bellatrix dropped to the floor like a marionette with it's strings cut while at the same time there was a loud thump.
It wasn't a spell that Lucius was familiar with.
It sounded as though Bellatrix was choking to death. The sounds of her labored gasping for air seemed to go on and on.
The Dark Lord stood still and alert, but he didn't make a move to save the woman who had worshiped him. He simply stood and watched her die.
Why wasn't he trying to save her. Why weren't any of them? Were they afraid because she was seemingly immune to the Killing curse?
"I can kill you all," the girl said casually. "After all, I'm not really a little girl. I might have lied about being human... maybe just a little."
She smiled, and even from this distance it looked strange and uncanny.
Voldemort snarled and waved them all forward.
Lucius pointed his wand and lashed out with the killing curse, but he was careful not to hit the girl. He also stayed just outside the room with the Dark Lord.
Green light lashed out at the girl as the Death Eaters moved forward. They suddenly started dropping to the floor, or suddenly flying to the side, screaming as they hit the wall.
"I'm beyond you," the girl said. "Even you. You still let others do your dirty work for you, let them die for you without taking any risks. Your name means flight from death."
She dropped her file and stood up. "I am death."
With that the girl stood up, and suddenly the trapped death eaters started to scream as monstrous wounds began to appear on their bodies.
Limbs were torn off and flung into the air and the Death Eaters who were left were trying to fight something they could not see.
"FINITE INCANTEM!" Voldemort shouted.
Blinding light flashed from his wand, and suddenly the veil that covered everything fell away.
Giant spiders the size of small dogs were shrinking, and the shapes of tables that had been dropped on the minions were now obvious.
Four Death Eaters were dead, but that still left Lucius and seven others, however injured they might be.
The Dark Lord blasted the table that had been set up as a barricade, explaining how the girl had been able to beat the killing curse. The table exploded, but the girl was nowhere to be seen.
Then the Skrewts started dropping from the ceiling.
Lucius had heard the reports, and he knew that they were not as magically resistant on their stomachs; the others weren't as Lucky. The Carrows were torn apart almost immediately. Crabbe and Goyle were dead almost as quickly.
The Dark Lord, though was in his element. He moved like lightning, and he spun and danced. Green light flashed, and he never missed.
He was death incarnate, and the monsters soon began to focus on him, trying to injure him, to dog pile him. It was hopeless, though. They bounced off his shields, he danced by them, it was like he was dancing between the drops of rain.
This was what he was meant for; killing and the dance of Death.
Lucius did his best to keep his shields up and to block the door. The last thing he needed was for one of the things to get past and behind him.
It took Lucius a moment to realize that some of the Death Eaters trapped under the desks were choking. He tried to levitate the desks off of them, but the Skrewts bodies had landed on them, and the levitation spells had weight limits.
Eighty skrewts lay dead in the room by the time the Dark Lord was finished, bodies in a circle around him.
"This means you are finished," the girl said.
Lucius couldn't tell where her voice was coming from.
"Who will follow you after this?" she asked. "They really should have accepted my offer."
A sea of insects appeared from everywhere, swarming toward Voldemort. He gestured contemptuously, and he was suddenly surrounded by an area that was clear of insects. They piled on, one on top of the other, one foot, two foot, three feet thick, but he ignored them.
A gesture with his wand, and he was suddenly surrounded by a wall of flame. The air was filled with the sounds of burning insects, with the sounds of popping as they exploded within their shells.
"You are a child," he said. He sounded incredulous. "I thought you were a trick by that old fool Dumbledore to drag me out and trap me, but you aren't anything of the sort."
The insects were everywhere now, and Lucius could not see inside the room. They did not leave the room, however, and he wondered why the girl was choosing to spare him.
Green light exploded from a spot in the room that seemingly held no one.
Voldemort simply stepped to the side and he turned, lashing out with his own wand.
The girl was fast, but she simply wasn't in his same class. She flew backward, stunned.
Lucius stared incredulously.
After all of this, he didn't kill the girl right away?
Voldemort stepped over to the girl and put her in a full body bind. A moment later, he woke her from being stunned.
Glancing downward, Voldemort said, "Strike from behind, hide, never fight from the front. Filthy, muggle ways. You should have learned to fight like a proper wizard, and you might have had a chance."
Lucius thought that was a trifle unfair. She'd lasted longer than some trained aurors against a man who'd been practicing magic for fifty years longer than she'd been alive. If she'd had even four more years, the outcome might have been more equal.
"Crucio," Voldemort said.
Her body spammed, but she didn't say a word.
"You have cost me far too much to simply kill you," he said. "I will make your fate legendary. No one will ever dare face me again."
"I've seen better," the girl said from where she lay on the ground.
"What?" Voldemort said.
"I don't think you are all that creative," she said. "I've done worse than you."
"Crucio! Crucio! Cruicio!" Voldemort said.
Her body spasmed over and over again, but she didn't say anything. She may have groaned once, but Lucius couldn't tell.
Finally he pointed his wand at her, and he said, "Avada-"
"I know the secret to the prophecy," the girl said calmly.
"What?"
"Everyone is dead," Lucius said. "And the aurors will be coming soon."
The girl was clearly stalling for time. Why didn't Voldemort see that? He put entirely too much stock in prophecy anyway.
Voldemort glanced back at them. His expression was cold and showed not a hint of remorse or regret.
"I'll find more followers," he said. "You'll find me some. We can start with your son, and the sons of the others who were faithful to me. We can tell them that the Ministry murdered their fathers, and that will make them much more loyal to me than these ever were."
Lucius felt a chill of horror down his spine. This wasn't what he'd wanted for his son.
Bella had loved the Dark Lord. The others had served more out of fear than loyalty, but that was in part because the Dark Lord had never showed any of them any loyalty.
Lucius himself was expendable, he realized.
Voldemort was still looking at the girl, but he said, "Are you rethinking our arrangement?"
Lucius froze; he realized that his wand had risen.
"No," he said.
He realized that his voice sounded defeated, and it was. This man had led the Malfoy family to ruin; he'd get Draco killed as quickly as he had any of the others, and it would mean even less to him.
Yet Lucius wasn't brave enough to attack; if he did, Voldemort would kill him and tell Draco it had been Hebert. He would still get the last of the Malfoys, and it would all be for nothing.
At least this way he could try to protect Draco, in whatever small ways he could.
Eventually the aurors would catch them. Even with their secret base, it was only a matter of time. The Hebert girl was right about that.
"What is the secret to the prophecy?" he asked, leaning down.
"He'll defeat you with the power you know not. Do you know what that power is?"
"What?"
"Me," she said.
Insects were suddenly crawling all over her face. They covered her body, and a moment later her robes dropped to the floor.
"Kill me and you will make me stronger," a voice said. Lucius couldn't hear where the voice was coming from. It seemed like it was coming from everywhere and from nowhere.
"I am Harry's hand," she said. "His fist who will destroy you and fulfill the prophecy."
The insects were back, and if anything more numerous than before.
Taylor Heberts stepped out of the shadows. They were all around him. All of them were deformed, with insectile parts. Some had spider's legs, others had mandibles and compound eyes. None of them were normal.
Was the Dark lord secretly afraid of the girl?
The Boggarts wouldn't have shown up without some fear.
"Boggarts?" the Dark Lord said incredulously. "You think Boggarts will save you? I have no fear. I am beyond fear!"
The girls were closing in on him.
Lucius was frozen. He knew he should help Voldemort, but part of him was almost hoping that the man would lose.
"We are your Death," the girls chanted. "Inevitable. Unavoidable."
All of them were covered in a mass of insects now, a gown that covered them more and more thickly, until it was hard to see that there was even a person under the gown of insects.
Boggarts were immune to the Killing Curse; they'd never been alive. Lucius knew that as well as Voldemort did.
"Riddikulous!" Voldemort shouted, but the girls kept coming. Nothing changed. They weren't boggarts!
One of them lunged forward, and while Voldemort danced to the side, another stabbed him through the back with a massive barbed tail that rose over her back.
The Dark Lord staggered.
Green light flashed from his wand, but the insects covering the Taylor Hebert he was fighting dropped to the ground, dead. The girl lunged forward and stabbed him in the thigh with a knife.
Blood immediately began to slick the cobblestones.
He lashed out, and one of the girls exploded.
"Bombarda! Bombarda! Bombarda!"
One by one the girls exploded, splashing on Voldemort's shields.
"It's too late," the girl's voice said, from everywhere and from nowhere. "You are already dead, and you don't know it."
He was weaving on his feet; blood loss and poison was obviously making him feel weary.
"You haven't defeated me," he said.
"You make a mistake," the girl said. "You sent Winky's master out to be killed."
"Winky?"
"Master Barty loved the Dark Lord," a voice said from beside him. "And the Dark Lord didn't even try to save him."
Voldemort looked down and saw a small, miserable looking creature with a time turner in her hand.
"Now nobody is going to save you," she said.
She was pointing at the time turner, and a moment later, it exploded in her hand.
Voldemort tried to jump away, an expression of terror on his face.
Voldemort tried to jump away, an expression of terror on his face.
Voldemort tried to jump away, an expression of terror on his face. Voldemort tried to jump away, an expression of terror on his face. Voldemort tried to jump away, an expression of terror on his face.
Lucius stared at the scene before him with dawning horror.
The house elf was trapped there too, destroying the time turner over and over again.
"You've got a choice to make, Lucius," the voice in his ear said. "And that means that we need to have a little talk before the aurors arrive."
He slowly set his wand on the ground and he stepped back.
Dark Lady Hebert stepped from around the corner and she gestured toward his wand.
"What did you do?" he asked.
"I warned him that I was more creative than he is," she said. She looked back at the tableaux behind her.
"I suspect the school isn't going to be very happy with me about that. They'll probably want to build a pillar around it or something. I think I'd like to leave it up for a while as an object lesson."
"I'll work for you," he said.
"I thought you might. I suppose we'll have to tell the Ministry that as one of the members of the Board you felt like you had to help protect the school from the terrible Death Eater attack."
They'd believe her too.
It had the benefit of keeping him out of Azkaban, increasing his value to her, and burning any bridges he might have with former allies.
"I'm going to need you to help me take over the world," she said. "With as few losses as possible. I'm not interested in some kind of drawn out thing that ends up with everyone ground down. I need the Wizarding world to be united in twenty years to fight something that will likely destroy this world."
He stared at her.
"Starting today?"
"We can start tomorrow," she said. "I'm going to celebrate. It's been a rough couple of years."