Black robes billowed, casting sinister shadows in their wake as Snape made his way through the familiar halls of Malfoy Manor. His friendship with Lucius wasn't what it once was – another sacrifice of his change of allegiance. They had done so much, side by side, and yet he had turned his back on their shared ideals. They still saw each other, but it wasn't like before when he was a regular guest of the house, almost a member of the family.
Maybe this was the reason the Malfoy Lord's greeting was lacking, or maybe there was something more. Snape erred on the side of caution: he had a feeling his friend had the same suspicions he did, the suspicions that brought him here this night.
"What the hell has been going at that school of yours?" Lucius demanded as soon as his guest entered the room. Snape paused before answering, taking his time to close the intricately carved heavy wooden doors. His friend's words could have meant anything and he certainly wasn't about to give away his own suspicions first.
He'd spent all summer deciding on the best course of action following the eventful school year before coming to the conclusion that he needed more information. It would do no good to act on possibilities, especially considering what acting without all the facts had cost him in the past.
Thankfully, Lucius spoke again while he poured two generous portions of whiskey.
"Did you not think I might be interested to know what Draco has been up to? How could you let this happen? You're his godfather!" He accused. "You are supposed to protect him, not sit back and watch while he befriends mudbloods and blood-traitors." The more he thought about it, the more Lucius felt he didn't know his son at all.
"I imagined he would have told you." Snape answered honestly. "I assure you, it came as a surprise to me as well." Lucius scoffed before settling down into a plush armchair, staring down into his drink as though it would give the answers he sought. "It was smart of him though – those children are nothing like you might imagine."
"Oh believe me, I know!" He looked up into the curious black eyes of his old friend and sneered. "You would never believe who I played host to yesterday." Snape honestly didn't know what he meant. They were talking about Draco's new friends, but surely… His eyebrows rose.
"Why on earth…"
"Herido Addams." Lucius said by way of explanation.
"Oh, you had Addams over?" The blonde broke out into a smug smirk.
"With his parents and siblings." That tone of absolute superiority was back as Snape hid his jealousy. It wasn't exactly unexpected, but what a coup.
"And they brought Draco's, ah, other friends?" Lucius shook his head before recounting the events of the last few days.
"Well, all I can say is I wouldn't underestimate any of them." The potions master shuddered as he remembered seeing what Ronald Weasley had done to Wood. "You aren't dealing with Arthur or Frank or whatever dreadful muggles call themselves Granger's parents. These children are different creatures all together." Lucius raised an eyebrow in question, but Snape just shook his head, though he did continue, "Dumbledore is under the impression your son's little gang have been learning dark arts." He couldn't tell him what was going on with Weasley, but thought the man should probably know this much.
Lucius forced his face to remain impassive at the news, but he was conflicted. On the one hand, he was over the moon and full of pride and smug satisfaction that his son was learning – whether from or with Addams, either was welcome and would ensure he became a strong wizard – but on the other hand, the dark arts were incredibly dangerous and who knew what kind of things Addams was into; if their first night here was anything to go by it couldn't be good.
He decided to push past it and get to what he really wanted to know. "And what else has been going on this year?" it sounded like a casual question, but Snape knew better – he was digging for information. It seemed they were both in the dark about some things.
"What do you mean?" Snape asked naturally.
"Well it was all over the papers that Addams killed a professor after being attacked. What in Morgana's name was a dark wizard doing teaching at Hogwarts all year?"
"I do not know." Snape said with a frown. He had tried to find out.
Lucius merely scoffed once more as he stood to refill their drinks. Alcohol always loosened tongues, but that wasn't why he was drinking. His dark friend was too good for that.
"Dumbledore didn't share any theories?" He asked with obvious disbelief. Whether the aged wizard was playing Snape or the other way around, he couldn't see him not sharing. The guest stared into the fire for a few moments in thought. He had come here for information. If anyone knew anything of the Dark Lord it would be Lucius, and he knew he would need to give information to receive any.
"Dumbledore is under the impression he stole the Philosopher's Stone, which was being kept 'safe' at the school." The blonde listened and Snape let out a genuine sigh of frustration before continuing. "I did attempt to discover his reasons… I believe he was going to confide in me after I declared my loyalty to the cause, but he was killed before he could." Lucius processed that slowly. Was Severus' loyalty to the dark genuine?
"Why would he attack on Addams child?" He asked with honest confusion. He couldn't think any reason for it. And neither could Snape.
"He is an exceptionally annoying child." Was the only answer he could give.
"And have you heard of anything from our former… peers?" Voldemort was of course not his peer – the Dark Lord had no peers – but he wasn't about to tell what he knew of the man to a possible traitor.
Silence reigned for a long time as each man considered his position. Snape had given all the information so far, though with the exception of his son's extracurricular learning it was nothing he didn't already know. Snape knew though that he had to prove himself. If he was ever to be accepted back into the fold sharing information with Lucius was vital. The two of them were among his Lord's most trusted, so this is where he needed to position himself.
He finally broke the silence. "Lucius, we've known each other a long time, and I trust you more than most." That wasn't really saying much, but Lucius still raised an eyebrow at the man's use of nostalgia. "I can only say what I believe to be true, though I have no proof and hate to share speculation…"
"Share it anyway."
"When I first suspected Quirrell of trying to steal the Stone, I assumed he was doing it for his own sake." He sighed, not sure how to explain the leap he made. "However something happened," he held up a hand to halt questions, "that made me think maybe there was more behind it. He was such a weak, skittish man after all, hardly brave or ambitious enough to go after something like that."
Lucius smirked. "Indeed." And something about the way he said it gave Snape confidence to go on.
"I decided to confront him to see if he was doing the bidding of someone else, someone more powerful…" He paused again. In for a penny, in for a pound, he thought. "The most obvious candidate was the Dark Lord, who had always valued immortality, so I took a chance and assured him of my continued loyalty, offering my assistance if he could confirm my suspicions. He denied everything, but he wasn't hard to read. I believe he would have told me who he was working for before the end of term, but unfortunately any chance of that was precluded."
Lucius poured another drink, thinking maybe he was drinking to loosen his own tongue. If he was wrong and Snape was indeed a traitor the Dark Lord would have his head for outing him. However Snape had been trusted in the last war and if his Lord believed his sincerity, he was sure he would have allowed to man to assist him.
"I… share your opinions on the situation. It's a shame you couldn't have helped." Snape narrowed his eyes. Lucius knew more than he was saying.
"Have you seen Him?" He asked before he could talk himself out of it.
"No, my friend. But if you are correct, I believe it's time to get our house in order, don't you?"
Nothing more was said after that: he hadn't confirmed anything and if Dumbledore made any moves after this, he would know Snape couldn't be trusted. There was still something off about the whole thing and at the centre of his unease was not knowing why his Lord would attack Addams.
Heri and his siblings had been to Hell this summer. They'd made the most of it, of course, but there were secrets from his time there that he couldn't even share with his family. He didn't want them to worry.
In any case, because of this his back-to-school shopping had to wait until late August and so he decided to go on his birthday, with all his friends and made a day of it. It was only a few days after his stay with the Malfoys, and a few days before the start of term, but he was more than used to the intercontinental trip by now. Daphne had been so enthusiastic about this day out he'd second guessed his inviting her. He had indeed been through a lot in his short life, but he wasn't sure he could handle shopping with the Greengrass heiress.
He was in half a mind to make a run for it when he saw her approaching through the crowd of last minute shoppers, but she suddenly stopped, a few feet from him and stared in something akin to horror. Lurch had that effect on people. Heri just smiled and held out his hand.
"Let me introduce Lurch. He's here to hold the bags." She seemed overly pleased with this explanation and as she took his hand and pulled him into a greeting hug and he realised his mistake – he'd just removed a barrier to excessive shopping. Heaven, Hell and Purgatory help him!
As soon as she broke the hug she was chatting away, emphatically explaining about a new boutique she'd found that would provide a great deal toward his new school wardrobe – Heri wasn't aware he needed an entire new wardrobe, he already had clothes, he only really needed to buy a larger size for his school robes and then this year's supplies and books…
As she continued to talk she led him along the alley, Lurch following behind with a long-suffering groan and he started to get a funny feeling, a strange sense of dread.
"Where are the others?" He asked with growing trepidation. He nearly drew a weapon in defence of the frightfully, beautifully, dauntingly satisfied grin she gave him.
"I told them not to bother coming for another few hours. We're all meeting for lunch." His blood froze. When had she gotten so… powerful? How did he miss that? She had overcome her anxiety during this last year and become a solid member of their group, but he only now understood her reputation as an ice queen. He blamed Milan. He should have set the place on fire to set a proper precedent. Doors closed quietly behind him with all the finality of death.
He lasted 53 minutes before his tolerance snapped and the shop assistant trying to push another shirt on him 'accidentally' caught fire – somehow – maybe from the candle display of the other side of the shop. Rather than being horrified, Daphne looked annoyed with him. Ok, he thought, enough's enough. He'd allowed her to torture him for long enough. Everyone deserved a little fun, but he was no masochist.
Daphne had noticed Heri's patience slipping with every minute, and her sense of self-preservation warred with a curiosity to see how far she could push him. After living with him for a year, she knew that even though he was indeed the scariest person she'd ever met, he was also a good friend who tolerated much more from their group than from others, though she was actually surprised he'd almost lasted an hour. She was about to suggest they go to the next shop when she met his eyes. She broke contact after a second – too afraid to hold her nerve before that level of malice.
She heard him let out a long breath. "Let's get a drink." He said before walking towards the pub, and with shocking relief she followed, ignoring the growing scenes of panic behind them. The woman would be fine, well, she'd been horrifically burned, but she'd survive and Daphne suddenly felt she should be grateful it was her.
"Daphne, are you drunk?" Hermione asked with heavy disapproval. The blonde girl just laughed in response, before throwing an arm around her. "Who would even serve a twelve year old?" She snapped before looking at Heri, who looked away, whistling innocently. Her hangover would be vengeance enough.
Soon enough the whole crowd was together. At the request of Narcissa, Mr Malfoy had accompanied his son to the busy wizarding hub, but quickly dismissed himself to go about his own business, confident that his son was as safe with this motley crew as with anyone. Mr Weasley had also accompanied his sons, but was here to pick up a few last minute bargains with Ginny and Percy.
Nobody was really surprised when Heri led them all down Knockturn Alley, but Neville still spoke up. "Erm, Heri, are you sure this is safe." He wasn't convinced as he noticed a small group of men in large hoods watching them.
"Or course, why wouldn't it be?"
"We're all going to be sold as potion ingredients!" Daphne informed him merrily.
"Shush, you're being sloppy." Hermione chastised, causing an immediate reaction from the other girl, who straightened up in a badly executed display of propriety.
They went further and further down the creepy alley before reaching a battered door with peeling black paint and to everyone's dismay, Heri led them inside. The door opened to cold, uneven stone steps that spiralled down before opening up to a large candlelit restaurant. It was like someone had decided to open a business in a wine cellar.
A hunchbacked old man immediately approached them. "We don't host kids here!"
"I have a reservation." Heri informed, altogether unimpressed by the man's simple-mindedness in underestimating them. "Addams." It was a magic word that never ceased to open doors, and with widened eyes, the man quickly showed them to their table.
They settled into quiet conversation, casting wary eyes about because they weren't altogether convinced of their safety. The low lighting didn't help. It cast strange shadows that seemed to dance around them and there were far too many dark corners that could have been hiding anything.
Daphne didn't really notice any of this. She did however notice how Fred winced as he scanned the menu – for such an unfriendly looking place, the prices were ludicrously high.
She let out a very unladylike snort. "Don't worry." She said with a smile. "It's Heri's birthday meal; he's paying." Really, she thought, didn't they know even the basics? Disapproving looks were shared, while Draco laughed at the angry/embarrassed shade of red that bloomed across Ron's face.
"Talking about money is vulgar." Blaise reminded his blonde friend and soon everyone was laughing at her instead.
Herido just shook his head and by the time the appetizers arrived things had settled back down. Draco seemed very impressed with the caviar. That was, until Heri informed him it was actually eye of newt. The resulting revulsion was encouraging.
"So come on then, where have you been all summer?" George asked. They all wanted to know after all he'd initially said was that he'd been to Hell. They were sure he wasn't talking about an actual Hell. Well, pretty sure.
"Oh go on Harry, it can't be that bad!" Neville encouraged. Heri sighed as he viciously stabbed the belly of his lobster. Why did his friends want him to relive something like this? It was his birthday for crying out loud – hadn't he suffered enough already?
"My uncle got married." Well that wasn't what they were expecting. Wasn't that a good thing? "She was… rather like Daphne actually, a total psycho." The girl frowned as she tried to figure out if he was insulting or complimenting her. "Long story short, Wednesday, Pugsley and I were sent to summer camp. It was taxing."
To his surprise, everyone groaned.
"We all had bets on where you'd been." Hermione explained, and obviously nobody had guessed right. "Wait! Summer Camp?" She exclaimed, startling a few other patrons before quieting down, leaning forward. "Oh Heri, you weren't behind the Chippewa Tragedy, were you?" It had been all over muggle TV: a terrible accident with the generators resulted in a tragedy that had rocked America.
"They were bad people, Hermione." He tried to reassure.
"They couldn't have…"
"We made it count." He added ominously. Nobody felt comfortable with that smug look and so let the matter drop and the conversation quickly moved on.
The twins were planning to take their dad's flying car out for a joy ride. Heri's eyes lit up at that: a flying car sounded like a wonderful idea and he knew Pugsley would be annoyed he hadn't thought of it first.
"I can't believe I'm full." Ron said as he stared at his spoon, which was loaded with pudding. He was the last to finish and when he finally tossed his spoon down in defeat everyone let out a sigh of relief. By the gods that boy could eat.
Heri took out his wand and sent up gentle blue sparks before explaining that he was signalling for the bill.
"You do know you're not supposed to use your wand outside of school?" Fred asked, though the question felt redundant even in his own ears.
"Really?" The Addams seemed genuinely surprised to learn this.
"Didn't you read the notice we were given at the end of term?" Hermione asked.
"I thought they were joking." His friends were too full and had no energy to react to how ridiculous that reasoning was.
"Haven't the authorities been in touch?" Draco was curious – maybe there was a loophole.
"Why would they?" Heri answered before finally cottoning on to what Draco was talking about. "You don't imagine I kept that ridiculous monitoring charm, do you?"
"How did you get rid of it?" Fred and George were the ones to ask, but everyone leaned in to hear the answer. Herido couldn't believe they all still had it. Having a trace on his wand seemed too much like subjugation to Heri. He looked at Hermione.
"I'm surprised you at least didn't get rid of it. Haven't you been practising all summer?" She carefully explained that she couldn't, but would love to be able to, of course and so Heri decided to help them all. He was trying to teach them Dark Arts and had to sneak around to do it at school. If they couldn't practise in the privacy of their own home they would never get any stronger.
"Garrick removed them."
"Garrick?"
"Ollivander."
"Oh, well… we should probably wake Daphne." Draco said, even as he rose from his seat to get going.
And so the old wand maker found himself breaking several major laws over and over again that day. He never would have done it for anyone but an Addams, but he'd met the Addams patriarch last year after revealing what he knew of his son's identity and was certain he didn't ever want the man to return, so he'd do this for Herido's friends. Some good came out of it at least: he discovered two of the children using wands that hadn't chosen them, and after a serious reprimand had convinced them to buy their own.
As soon as they left the shop they were all shooting off all the harmless spells they could think of, with a giddy sense of freedom. Ok, so the first spell was followed by tense silence as they waited for the aurors to descend upon them, but once it became apparent no one was coming for them, they let loose. When a stray spell shot through a window of the flat above Scribbulus with a loud smash, all wands were hastily holstered and all nine of them filed into the book shop, suddenly eager to pick up Herido's books.
Heri was pleased to find the shop was no sanctuary. No, as soon as they stepped over the threshold they were almost knocked over by a brawling Lucius and Arthur.
"Dad?!" Four shocked voices chimed together. Draco looked to his red-headed friends before raising his chin.
"I mean, Father?!" The twins just laughed at him, he could be so cute sometimes.
It seemed their call had at least distracted the quarrelling men, as they parted and straightened up.
"Oh no, please, don't let us stop you." Heri encouraged, but it was too late. Mr Malfoy patted down his robes in an effort to regain some dignity.
"Here, girl – take your book – it's the best your father can give you." Heri could appreciate the malice in his eyes, but could also see Ron's muscles turning to steel as he prepared to attack. It seemed he hadn't quite got his impulse control issues in check.
"You really shouldn't judge people on such trivial matters, Lord Malfoy." Lucius was a mortified – not that it showed: not only had he been dragged into brawling like a muggle, Addams had seen it. Thankfully his mortification didn't last long as the boy continued. "You never know when you might find yourself in someone else's shoes." He faltered slightly at that look of promise in Herido's eyes, and in that moment he had no doubt the boy could make his words come true. He could hardly imagine a more horrific prospect.
"Good day to you all." Lucius swept from the shop.
He made it only half way down the alley before stopping to mentally curse at himself. He'd let that whole situation get away from him and now his thoughts were torn between trying to fix his mistake and wondering just how much trouble he could be in.
He'd come to the Alley to either sell or hide several objects of questionable purpose and origin on the off chance that his home was raided by the ministry. He hoped he had enough connections to be given a heads-up, but one could never be too careful. He left the object his Lord had trusted him with for last, loathe as he was to part with it, but Voldemort had said it was important and Lucius imagined he'd be in for a world of trouble if it were to be confiscated by fools like Arthur Weasley. He was planning on taking it to Gringotts and placing it in a secure vault, but when he'd seen the Weasley girl something inside him snapped. He remembered the haunting voice of Aeliana, how that wretched family had taken away her future and in a moment of what he would claim as temporary insanity he realised the perfect solution: giving Ginny Weasley the diary was as good as cursing her himself. The girl's very existence was an affront to him – some claimed her birth signalled the end of the feud, but he knew his father and grandfather would never have accepted that.
It was a mistake. His reaction was only so strong because the memory of seeing Aeliana was so fresh. But even so, to place the diary under the noses of a family of light wizards was unbelievably reckless. Perhaps he could make use of his son's friendship with the Weasley boys and have him or them retrieve it at school… Damn it! He thought. So much for getting his house in order.
xx
