Warnings:
Guide: "Speech", Thoughts, ~letters and other written things
Beta: Destiny1195. All remaining errors are my own.
AN: Thank you for your input, they were very inspiring.Many of you wanted Lucius to be loyal to Draco, and I have to admit that I especially liked the idea of Lucius not making it to Grimmauld Place, sacrificing himself for Narcissa … But see how I finally decided.
-~-~- Toujours pur, toujours du sang de Black -~-~-
-~-~-by Stillwatersaredeep-~-~-
-~-~- Chapter 3 -~-~-
So this is the family home of the Blacks, Draco thought as he stood on the pavement in front of number twelve Grimmauld Place. With them calling themselves ancient and noble, one would think that their home would be more posh. Whatever, he decided with a small shake of his head as he walked up the steps towards the front door. Taking one final deep breath, Draco knocked on the door.
"Malfoy," Harry greeted him a minute later. I knew he would come today, Harry thought, yet he was still overcome by the urge to give the blond a black eye. The last time Harry'd seen Malfoy, he'd been fleeing alongside Snape straight from the scene of Dumbledore's murder. And while Draco had lowered his wand in the end, he was still the one who let the Death Eaters enter Hogwarts. "Where is your mother?" Harry asked to stop himself from giving in to his urge to harm the other boy. He hoped that Mrs Malfoy's presence would be able to calm his anger somewhat.
"She and my father will join us shortly," Draco replied as politely as possible, stepping into the front hall. From all their years of fighting, he'd learned to read the signs and identify when Potter was about to blow up, throw a punch or cast a hex at him. "They are waiting for Snape to arrive. He still needs to reveal the address of this place to my father."
"Yes, and to all the other Death Eaters while he is at it," Ron said from the stair landing, his right hand clenched in a fist; a fact that went not unobserved by Draco.
"He can't," Draco abnegated, shaking his head. "The Unbreakable Vow will prevent him from revealing the address to anyone who will wish me harm. If it was not for the vow, I do not think he would have even told my mother and me about this place." Whilst he did have a first row seat when Snape killed Dumbledore, he was still not convinced that Snape was loyal to the Dark Lord. In his opinion, Snape was playing both sides like a true Slytherin; aiming to end up on the winning side regardless of who wins the war in the end.
"Kreacher prepared the Master bedroom for the future Lady Black," the house-elf proudly proclaimed, bowing in front of the blond boy.
"Lady Black," Ron repeated, laughing.
Harry tried to suppress his laugh, but Ron's laughter was too contagious. At least Kreacher eased the mood, Harry thought in amusement. "Why don't you show him the room?" Harry asked Kreacher. While he would need to talk to Malfoy soon, he would prefer it if both Hermione and Mrs Malfoy were present to make the situation more comfortable for all of them.
With a slight nod to Potter, Draco followed after the house-elf. At least he did not ask me to surrender my wand, Draco thought in relief. Though, I wonder why Potter has not taken the Master bedroom. As Lord Black, it would be his right.
"Where is Potter sleeping?" Draco asked the house-elf as they went up the stairs to the third floor.
"Kreacher is happy to inform the future Lady Black that Mr Potter is staying in one of the small guest bedrooms on the second floor."
While Draco could understand why the house-elf was happy that the hated Lord of the house stayed in a mere guest room, he was getting annoyed at being called 'Lady'. "Kreacher," he said in a harsh voice, "you are to address me as Mr Malfoy. Once Potter and I are married, you may address me as Master Malfoy."
"Kreacher will do as Mister Malfoy says," Kreacher answered before he vanished from sight.
Not knowing how long it would take until Snape arrived at Malfoy manor, Draco decided to unpack to keep himself occupied.
-~-~- Toujours pur, toujours du sang de Black -~-~-
When Narcissa asked to have a private word with him, Lucius never expected her to tell him such bad news. Draco, his beloved son, was about to die; all because his wife's stupid cousin Sirius Black had named the Potter brat his heir and the even more idiotic Bartolomeo Black had cursed the title of Lord Black.
"Maybe the Dark Lord knows a way to remove the curse?" Lucius asked in desperation. With Dumbledore dead, the Dark Lord was the only one who stood a remote chance of saving Draco's life. But we are out of his favour, he added in his mind, not really seeing a chance that the Dark Lord would even think about helping them.
"Do you really believe that?" Narcissa asked him.
"He won't do it for Draco's sake," he admitted. "But maybe for his own? We both know how much he wants to killed Potter himself," he said, grasping at straws.
"Even if he would be inclined to help us, the chances are low that he could remove the curse without Potter's presence. And we both know once Potter is here, he will no longer care about the curse," Narcissa pointed out.
"We do not have any other options," Lucius said.
"Draco could marry and thus pacify the curse," she said.
"If Severus was still part of the Order, maybe," Lucius admitted. "But right now we have no way to contact him. And even if we could, do you really think he would help us? After what Draco had to do last June? What I did during the last years?"
"He would die too," Narcissa pointed out. So far, her husband's reaction made her inclined to believe that he valued their son's life more than his misguided loyalty to the Dark Lord. Therefore, she decided to lay her trust in him.
"It's a futile discussion. We won't be able to get into contact with Potter," Lucius said. "Draco will die. He...will...die!" Lucius said weakly, his voice getting softer with every word he spoke. He saw no hope.
"There's hope," Narcissa said, laying a comforting hand on her husband's shoulder. "I was able to contact him."
Lucius looked up, gaining hope again. If Narcissa was able to contact him, there was a chance that they could gain a location where they could send Draco. "We would need to change allegiances," he said. Maybe I could offer to spy for him in exchange for him saving Draco's life? Lucius pondered.
"Yes," Narcissa agreed. "He informed me today that he will receive Draco," Narcissa went on. "And we are invited to come too."
"I could stay behind to keep you up to date with his plans," Lucius offered.
"You are no Occlumens," Narcissa pointed out. "And I could sleep more easily if you were by my side."
Lucius considered his wife's opinion. "The mark," he suddenly said. "He will be able to track me down through the Dark Mark." And not to forget, torture me through it, he added in his mind, not wanting to say this to Narcissa. She was already worried enough right now.
"Draco also has the mark," she said.
"But his will very likely vanish when he marries. The union of the new moon bond doesn't allow you to have more than one lord," Lucius said.
"There's still the Fidelius Charm," she said. "You will be safe behind it."
Lucius had to admit that his wife was right. He would not live one day as a spy. And while the Fidelius Charm would protect him from being found, it would not stop the Dark Lord from constantly calling him to his side, making the mark burn.But what is the alternative? If I stay, I would be forced to find Draco and Potter to deliver them to the Dark Lord on a silver platter. And this is something I could never do, he thought. Out loud he said, "We would need to leave everything behind. The manor would be lost to us." The sadness was clear in his voice. To save the future of the Malfoy line he would need to leave everything his ancestors had worked for behind.
"But not forever. If Potter wins, we would get everything back," she tried to cheer him up; even though she feared that in his anger the Dark Lord would not hesitate to burn the whole manor down to the ground.
"Has Draco already packed?" he asked.
"He already left," Narcissa only now admitted. "I was not sure when Bellatrix would remember the curse or if something else would go wrong."
"So he will live?" Lucius asked.
"Yes," she replied with conviction. A stone fell from Lucius heart. Draco would live!
"We will need to leave soon," he said. But before he could say more, a knock on the door suddenly interrupted them.
"You're in need of a Pepper-Up Potion?" Severus asked to not lose his cover. The fact that he'd been able to tell her the address of the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, but had not shared the information with the Dark Lord and the other Death Eaters made it clear that he was not so loyal to the Dark Lord. In case Lucius turned out to be more loyal to the Dark Lord than to his family, the harmless reason for his presence would keep his true allegiance secret, including his ability to reveal the secret of the Fidelius Charm.
"Yes," Narcissa answered. "And would you be so kind as to tell the address to Lucius?" she asked, telling Severus that Lucius had decided to place his family first.
Half an hour later, Draco's absence luckily still unnoticed, Lucius and Narcissa were ready to leave the manor. They were already in the entrance hall when the Dark Lord arrived, walking through the front doors like he was the master of the house instead of Lucius.
"Ah, Lucius, Narcissa," he greeted them. "What a coincident that I meet you here. Bellatrix just called me. She told me that she had important news for me that involves you and young Draco," he said.
Narcissa and Lucius panicked on the inside, emotions tumultuous; outside though, they kept up the cold Malfoy façade. "Draco should be somewhere on the grounds. Shall we bring him to you?" Lucius asked.
"Make haste, I do not have all day," he chided as he walked past them to the drawing room.
They both forced themselves to walk unhurriedly out the door and then walked a bit faster past the Manor grounds, hoping that Bellatrix would not offer to join their search. Just as they were out of the Anti-Disapparation Wards, they heard Bellatrix's too high voice calling, "Drakee-poo, where are you?"
"I was never so glad that Potter stole our house-elf," Lucius told Narcissa as they stood on a dirty London street.
Narcissa laughed. They were safe and only because they could not have sent Dobby after Draco, resulting in the Dark Lord believing their lie about searching for their son themselves. "Still, it was a very close call," she admitted as she knocked on the door.
-~-~- Toujours pur, toujours du sang de Black -~-~-
Two hours. Two hours have already passed since I arrived here, Draco thought worriedly as he looked at the clock. He had finished unpacking half an hour ago and was now perking up his ears for any knocking sound. He had to wait for another twenty minutes before he finally heard the knock he so desperately desired to hear. Not caring about what Potter and his friends would say, he hurried from the third floor down the stairs to the front door.
"Mother, Father," he greeted them happily as he opened the door to let them him.
"Not so fast Malfoy!" Weasley called from the entrance of the kitchen.
"Really, Ronald," Granger chided him. "Let them at least step in."
Once the front door was closed behind the couple, Potter spoke up from behind his friends. "This is how things will go," he said, radiating authority and power as walked with slow steps past his friends until he reached the Malfoys. "Until you take your vow, you will surrender your wand," he told Lucius Malfoy, who complied with his wish. He noted that his wife was not asked to do the same, giving him a sense of security.
"Furthermore, this is my house and you'll respect my rules. One, none of you will insult me and my friends. Two, you will not have any contact with the outside world. Three, if you have any complains, you come to me. Four, you'll not abuse the house-elf." The last point Harry not only added for Hermione's benefit, but because he still remembered how Dobby was treated by Lucius Malfoy. "Kreacher will now show you to your room," Harry dismissed them. "Meet us in the drawing room in half an hour."
-~-~- Toujours pur, toujours du sang de Black -~-~-
"Do you really think it's wise to let them out of your sight?" Ron asked as they sat down in the drawing room twenty minutes later.
"As good as it is to let them keep their wands," Harry said. "I do not trust Malfoy senior," he stated, laying Lucius' wand on a nearby table, "but I do trust that both Malfoy and his mum would do everything to keep Malfoy alive, so I think that we can at least trust them to not kill me, or anger me by hurting either of you. Don't forget, as much as Draco's life depends on me, my life also depends on him," Harry reminded his friend.
"And that's why you trust them blindly?" Ron asked.
"No, but showing them that I trust them will prevent them from deciding that letting me die would be their better option. I wouldn't put it past Lucius to get back into Vol...You know whose," Harry quickly corrected himself; he hated that he still had trouble not saying Voldemort's name out loud, "good graces by delivering my dead body to him"
"Harry is right, Ron," Hermione seconded. "When we speak to them, always remember that not only they, but also we, are dependent on their cooperation." With that being said, they waited in silence for the Malfoys to join them.
-~-~- Toujours pur, toujours du sang de Black -~-~-
AN: So, what do you think will Harry make the Malfoys swear? What demands will the Malfoys have?