Reasons
"It's here?"
Sylvain Nott nodded, his dark eyes darting to and fro the entrance of the Dark Lord's main entrance. For once, he was not expensively dressed; to say, neither was Lucius. And it would be an understatement to say that they were nervous. "Father wrote to me about it in his will."
"Well, if you're sure, then." Lucius licked his lips and told himself that he should be happy – it was his duty, after all.
Then why, pray tell, did he feel as if he were digging his own grave?
Deciding to leave the poetics to Nott, Lucius strutted forward and motioned for his best mate to follow, when their route was barred by a thin young man with shaggy black hair and a small curved moustache. "You've thought long and hard about this?"
Rabastan Lestrange stepped forward, staring at the two of them with his dark eyes. Lucius knew him, of course; Rabastan had been at his older brother's wedding, which Lucius had attended during the summer preceding his sixth year. "Malfoy," he acknowledged, tilting his head, "Nott – ah, yes. Unfortunate about your father. He was a good, loyal Death Eater." He dug a cigarette from somewhere inside his cloak and lit it with his wand. "Why are you here?"
Lucius stared at him. "To serve the Dark Lord and preserve our pureblood heritage, Lestrange."
"And you're taking up your father's mantle," Rabastan said; Sylvain nodded. "That was why I was here, too." He exhaled; rings of smoke unfurling from that damn Muggle contraption. "You can't get out of here, you know," he said conversationally. "When you join, it's for life."
Lucius stepped closer. "Are you trying to discourage us from joining?"
"No." Rabastan smiled; it was unsettling. He took one last puff from his cigarette and stubbed it, and then threw it on the floor. "I'm just warning you. It would be a shame to lose comrades, you know. What with the mad action the Aurors have begun taking against us, our numbers are more than endangered."
"We're willing to acknowledge the dangers." Sylvain spoke up for the two of them.
"That is quite magnificent," he stepped out of the way. "It's inside. Be careful with the Dark Lord. He will accept nothing bordering on disrespect, boys."
"Mm," Lucius muttered, and then the two boys trampled inside.
Lucius could still feel Lestrange's dark eyes on him. Long after he and Sylvain disappeared in the darkened hall, Rabastan remained there, staring, his eyes glinting imperceptibly.