--a long chapter i know, but it was fun to write it from all three perspectives, Harry, then Draco, then Lucius.

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Detention

Harry watched Ron and Ginny leave for Quidditch practice. He had relinquished his Captain's badge to her for the day, much to Ron's disappointment.

"You can be Captain next week!" Harry smiled weakly, rolling his eyes. "I'll be doing detentions for the rest of the year!"

Ron chuckled and followed Ginny out. Hermione looked up to find Harry staring at her. "You not going to watch?" He asked her.

"Thought I'd walk with you to Snape's office." She replied with a smile. "Just in case you are accosted by our mutual blonde friend."

"Thanks 'Mione!" He grinned. He had no desire to walk to the dungeons alone. "Only problem is I can't walk you back!"

"Oh I can take care of myself! Malfoy doesn't hate me half as much as he does you!" She joked.

Together they stumbled out of the common room and made their way to the ground floor. Crossing over the entrance hall they spied a familiar face emerge from the dungeons.

Hoping to avoid yet another conflict with Malfoy, Harry and Hermione instinctively steered away, and walked behind the huge hourglasses which contained the house points. Peering through the glass they saw him close the dungeon door behind him and carelessly scan the room for signs of life. He looked tired, as if he had just woken up. Wherever Malfoy was going he was in no hurry to get there fast, and Harry hurriedly looked at his watch, which edged closer and closer to seven o'clock. Snape would never forgive him if he were late.

"Where you off to?" Theodore Nott appeared at the top of the stairs. Harry was surprised to see these two conversing. As far as he knew, Theodore was not in Draco's circle of friends, and they shared relatively few classes. Nott's father was also a deatheater, which is probably the only reason Draco talked to him at all.

"Detention…Dumbledore." Draco sighed. Harry's heart lurched. "Why does he get to have detention with Dumbledore and me Snape? Snape's his head of house!"

Theodore laughed. "Not surprised mate…it was hilarious! Did you see their faces!" he was referring to the unfortunate gryffindors that were caught in the crossfire that evening at dinner.

Draco smiled. "Yeah…" He started up the stairs and Theodore descended.

"See ya later." Nott nodded with a sneer.

"Yeah…see ya Nott." Draco nodded back, then fumbled with his tie in a vague attempt to look respectable on his way to the headmaster's office.

Harry and Hermione moved out from behind the hourglasses as a crowd approached and divided. Some going in the directions of their dormitories, and others heading outside to watch the quidditch practice. Hermione walked with Harry all the way to Snape's door, and confident that he was not going to be assaulted by Slytherins, went outside to watch Ron and Ginny try to play quidditch without him.

Harry checked his watch. It was bang on seven o'clock. He knocked gently.

"Enter!" The cold voice of Snape was enough to make your blood curdle.

Harry silently closed the door behind him.

"Well done, you can tell the time." Snape sneered, motioning for Harry to sit.

Harry, in an attempt to make this detention go smoothly and quickly, thought it best not to respond…in fact, he would avoid trying to say anything.

I'm restocking the potions and ingredients cupboards tonight, there's a list of things here…" Snape pointed to a stack of papers, "…and here…I hope you know how to count…list how many I have left, and how many more we need, here's the key to the cupboard…I'm sure I can trust you with it?" Snape lifted the key a little higher than Harry could reach.

"Yes sir." Harry mumbled and Snape lowered the key into his hand.

"Off you go." He waved Harry dismissively and sat back down at his desk. He still had many more essays to mark. The majority of which were slytherin ones, which required his complete attention.

Harry took the first Stack of papers with him and left Snape's office. At least he didn't have to be in that insufferable man's presence for the entire evening. That would have been unbearable.

---

Draco approached the golden phoenix statue nervously and coughed. "Ginger Biscuit" He croaked.

The phoenix began to turn and ascend revealing the stone steps to Dumbledore's office. Draco climbed them slowly, his body trembling from nerves. As the mission drew to a close, Draco found himself growing more and more agitated. This explained his terrible outbursts, his violent mood swings in the common room, the loss of his bullying streak, and his lack of practical jokes. He had changed so dramatically that his friends, and even teachers didn't recognise him anymore.

As if he knew Draco was waiting, Dumbledore opened his office to allow him in.

"Good evening…please come in." His grandfatherly ways would have made any student feel welcome and calm, but Draco looked terrified. He didn't dare look Dumbledore in the eye, for he feared the old wizard would see right through him, see that he was responsible for the attacks on Katie Bell and Ron Weasley, see that he had used unforgivable curses, see that he planned to murder him that very week.

"You can relax Draco." Dumbledore chuckled. "This detention is only to set an example to the other students! I don't intend for you to do any chores, or write lines, or have me shout at you all evening!"

"No offence headmaster…but what exactly is it I'm here for then?" Malfoy asked quietly, still staring at the floor in shame.

"I know you have been visiting the girls bathroom to speak to a ghost…Myrtle may have made you a promise, but I am still headmaster of Hogwarts, and she answers to me without hesitation. I happened upon her a week ago and she told me of your distress." Dumbledore sat down at his desk. A pensieve was glistening in front of him. Draco dared to look up and saw a young phoenix perched nearby. It glared at him, ruffling its feathers to make himself look larger. It clearly disliked him immediately.

"Pay no notice of Fawkes!" Dumbledore twinkled. "He never forgets a face…and you look…well…he seems to know yours." He avoided mentioning Lucius at this stage. He wanted Draco to talk about him freely.

Draco knew what Dumbledore had meant to say, and looked away from the phoenix.

"You are here…because I think you need someone to talk to, in full confidence, someone with authority. Perhaps Professor Snape or myself." Dumbledore continued.

"I have nothing to talk about professor." Draco lied.

"I think we both know that is not the case…and we have a whole evenings detention together, whether you want to talk or not." Dumbledore motioned to a comfortable chair nearby, and Draco let out a sigh and sat himself down. He winced slightly from his bruised body, which ached and demanded rest.

"Tell me what's on your mind Draco, sometimes letting it out is the best medicine."

Draco shifted uncomfortably. Dumbledore would not appreciate hearing that the thing plaguing his mind was his murder. "…I …I really don't want to discuss it professor." He croaked, and resisted the urge to vomit.

Dumbledore seemed to ignore him. "Tell me about your father." He decided to make the first move. He had to get Draco talking. Having it all bottled in was not healthy, and the boy looked terribly ill indeed. "Not what others think…tell me how you feel about him."

Draco felt his heart stop at the mention of his father. He struggled to find the correct words to describe what he felt. "I…I…don't know sir…he's my father."

"I can see this is difficult for you…so I'll go first. Recent events aside…I saw your father as a very proud, very strong gentleman. Like you he was reluctant to show what he considered to be weakness, he would try not to let his emotions get the better of him…"

Draco shrugged. "That sounds like him."

Dumbledore leant over his pensieve and with his wand, removed a whispy, milky cloud of light from his temple and let it fall into the bowl like a feather.

"I have something I think you might like to see." The wizard smiled. Draco knew of pensieves, having seen one in his father's study, but he had never been allowed to view one before. Leaning into the bowl he held his breath.

He felt as if he were falling into a vast abyss. The air around him felt like water, but he could breathe quite normally. His hearing was also unimpaired, and even the slightest whisper could be heard clear as day. Opening his eyes he found himself standing next to two Dumbledore's. The younger one from the memory, and the older one he knew.

"Over there." The old wizard pointed to the back of the classroom. It was Hogwarts. Draco followed Dumbledore's gaze and spotted a familiar blonde head over the bored faces. It was his father.

The 18 yr old Lucius stood up and carried a stack of books over to the younger Dumbledore's desk. He looked so different, his face bore no frown lines or signs of age, and his long hair was tied back in a ponytail like Draco's.

"Finished Sir." He clasped his hands behind his back, and held his head high. Draco had seen his father at this age in pictures, but he felt so strange seeing him in the flesh. It was almost like looking in a mirror. A very forgiving mirror.

"Stay behind please after dismissal…" The younger Dumbledore said. "…you and I should talk." He glared over his half-moon spectacles.

Lucius nodded and sat back down, after receiving odd looks from his classmates, and giggles from some girls. He smiled at a beautiful blonde girl in the corner, and she smiled back coyly before burying her nose in a book. Draco recognised her to be his mother.

A sharp bell chimed in the distance. Dumbledore looked up from his desk. "Obviously no homework this summer, enjoy your holidays and I hope to see you all on graduation day…consider yourselves dismissed…" The class looked eager and ready to move, "…now." He smiled.

Students practically ran out of the room, pushing and shoving their friends and chattering about holidays to come. Lucius stayed sat at his desk, and waited for the beautiful blonde to approach him and peck him on the cheek before she too, followed her classmates.

"Lucius?" The younger Dumbledore brought his attention back to the land of the living. The teenager got up and walked over to his professor's desk, taking a seat opposite.

"Yes sir?"

"Technically you don't have to call me 'sir' anymore." Dumbledore smiled. Then got to the point. "I hear you are returning home."

"It's not as if I have a choice Professor." Lucius said bluntly, trying not to sound rude. "But today is the last day of school…and I'm graduating this year."

"Indeed you are…seems only yesterday you were having detention in here, after cursing Philippe with that nasty bout of boils in first year!" Dumbledore chuckled.

Lucius' lips twitched into a smile. "He deserved it I assure you."

Draco was smiling so much his cheeks hurt. Dumbledore noticed the colour return to his skin, and a gleam in his eyes, which matched his father's. They watched intently as the conversation unfolded.

"Have you thought about your future? I understand your father has made plans for you, but I have put it upon myself to inform you of other paths you could take."

"It's my duty to fulfil his wishes." Lucius said. "I am to work with him in the ministry, then hopefully take his place when he retires." His voice echoed sincerity, but Draco saw the light leave his eyes. It was not what he wanted. He was struggling with emotions.

"Abraxas may have your future planned out for you, but you are not controlled by him…you have a choice Lucius, and standing up to him is one. I've known you for seven long years, and I can tell you, he can beat you until the owls come home, but he will never break your spirit."

Lucius looked away. "I fear it's already broken professor." He nervously played with a ring on his middle finger, and Draco looked at his own hand, to see the same ring, encircling his own. The ring his father was going to give him for his eighteenth birthday, but relinquished a year early.

"I'm offering you the chance to stay here…if you're willing…maybe get a job here. You have talent Lucius…it may not show in your grades but its there nonetheless."

"That's enough for now." Draco felt Dumbledore's hand on his shoulder, trying to pull him back.

"No." Draco wriggled free. "Just a little longer…" he felt the hand clasp him again, and felt like he was moving backwards, even though his feet were still.

Lucius looked up at the headmaster. "I can't…he'll cast me out on the streets!"

"Let him go…it's okay Draco…let him go."

Draco's eyes watered, and he reluctantly allowed himself to be taken out of the pensieve, away from his father, whom he hadn't heard or seen in nearly a year.

"What happened next?" Draco asked immediately as he found himself surrounded by the headmaster's office once more.

"I tried my best to convince your father to stay, but he was too frightened to stand up to your Grandfather. He went home that summer and I barely saw him since. He changed dramatically Draco…and I see these same changes in you…and it worries me."

"What changed?"

"His behaviour. Lucius prided himself in showing deep respect to all wizards. He begun to let it slip, his beliefs changed, he became more agitated, more alert, he was angry, and vengeful. I knew in his heart he was a good man, and I feared for his future."

Draco resisted the urge to argue with Dumbledore. Although he wanted to deny that he hadn't changed, he knew that everything Dumbledore was saying was true. Why would he lie?

"Why did he change?" Draco asked.

"Some time between graduation and Christmas, your Grandfather developed Dragonpox and died." Dumbledore looked visibly upset and deeply concerned. "It's at this point, I believe…your father felt very alone indeed, with no parents or close friends, save your mother, he found himself in with, shall we say…the wrong crowd."

"You can say 'deatheaters' sir…I know who you mean." Draco said sulkily.

"Did you know he was a deatheater Draco? Before all this?"

Draco knew he shouldn't lie. He hesitated at first, then nodded slowly. "I suspected…" He swallowed, "He lead the attacks on the quidditch world cup in fourth year."

"I want to help you, I feel that in his absence, I am partially responsible for your well-being, but I need you to have confidence in me…trust me Draco. You don't have to be alone."

Draco nodded. Trust the man he promised to kill…that would be something.

"Now tell me…deatheater activities aside…tell me about the Lucius 'you' knew."

---

Lucius was picking his teeth with a sharp chicken bone when he heard the heavy oak doors to his cellblock creak open.

"No…no please! It wasn't me! It wasn't me! I didn't do it!" A voice was pleading. Chains dragged on the floor, and Lucius could sense another victim of the 'darkroom'. He had been there himself, many times. The room drained you of light, happiness, everything. It was rumoured, that they used to keep a dementor in there with you, before they abandoned Azkaban. The room stank of death and excrement, and Lucius had no desire to go back

His curiosity got the better of him, and he approached the bars of his cell door, to get a better view.

A black haired individual was being dragged down the corridor, toward the entrance of the dark room, some fifty feet away. Lucius got a better look as they passed.

"Rudolphus?" he grimaced. Rudolphus Lestrange was Bellatrix's husband. He had been captured along with Lucius over a year ago. The man's hair, which was once long, wavy and black. Had been cut and was streaked with grey. He looked gaunt and thin, with deep black holes where his eyes once were. He looked terribly ill.

"Lucius?" It may have been very dark, but Malfoy's blonde head and blue eyes reflected what little light there was. "You're alive? Have you been here this whole time?" he gasped, completely forgetting for a moment, where he was heading.

"Boris…what's happening?" Lucius turned to look at his own Jailor down the hall. A skinny auror with greasy lank brown hair and chipped teeth sidled up.

"One week…Solitary confinement." He sneered at Rudolphus, who had started pleading for mercy.

"Oh come on Boris…look at him…he'll be dead in three days if you stick him in there." Malfoy sneered.

"It's the smallest sentence we could give…Lestrange attacked a fellow inmate in the exercise yard…I fear his brain is beginning to rot in this place." Boris smiled. He clearly did not care about any of the deatheaters…why should he? Boris was a mudblood.

"There's an exercise yard?" Lucius raised an eyebrow. "I've been here a year and I've never seen it?"

Boris started to laugh heartily, and looked at Lucius if he were the most foolish man in the world. Lucius didn't like being humiliated. He glared inhumanely at his jailor, and the laughs died away slowly. "You are in cell block 'H', it stands for 'High security'…'highly evil'…'hell' …there is no way you are going anywhere! Understand?"

Lucius backed away from his bars angrily, and watched as Rudolphus was thrown into the dark room, screaming, as the door was slammed shut.

"Why have you brought him up here?" Lucius asked.

Boris smiled again. "The dark room above us was full…so your friend Rudolphus is using this one this week. Don't get any ideas Malfoy…just because it's taken doesn't mean you can misbehave!" He slammed a club on the bars in warning, and stalked off back down the hallway.

Lucius lay back down on his ragged mattress, and covered his ears. The muffled cries of Rudolphus echoed like wind down the corridor, and they chilled the blood. He would calm down after an hour or so, when he's screamed so much he can barely speak. Then there would be peaceful silence once more.

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