Disclaimer: Not Mine.
Rebirth
Chapter 2
Vincent looked up at the castle, lowering his head as he walked up to the main doors. He was glad the Holiday's were here, the halls would at least be empty of students. He did not relish what he was about to do.
He made his way to the Headmasters Office, looking at the damage that still showed as he walked though the halls, and up the unmoving and un-warded staircase. At the top of the stairs, he paused as he looked into the office and saw Professor McGonagall at the desk. Only now, it was Headmistress McGonagall.
"Headmistress?" He waited unsure before entering the office.
"Yes?" Minerva looked up from the parchment on the desk in front of her. "May I help you?"
Vincent reached into his cloak and pulled out the journal, then crossing the room he set it in front of her.
"Oh my," she said softly.
"I found it, in an old desk." He stood without moving. "I thought you may like to keep it."
"Mr.?" Minerva looked up at the hooded wizard.
"Crabbe." He pushed his hood back and watched her face change from curiosity to horror.
"Mr Crabbe, I am surprised you had the nerve to come here." She stood behind her desk.
"Professor, I just," he said as he stumbled for the right words. "I needed to come here. I didn't know…"
"Mr Crabbe." She pointed at the door. "I suggest you leave here."
"I wanted to tell you I am sorry." He looked down at the floor. "I don't expect you to forgive me, or to forget what happened, but I wanted to tell you anyway."
"Mr Crabbe," she snipped. "I am aware that you …"
"No," he snapped at her. "You know nothing. You know nothing of what they forced me to do. I am not saying they forced me to hex the students, or all the things I did here, but I never thought I had a choice in this war. I did what I was supposed to do. It's all I could do."
"Mr Crabbe, many students were given the same choices you were given and made better selections." She sat back down and picked up the journal.
"Snape didn't." Vincent looked directly at her and nodded at the journal. "The only difference is that he had time, time to make it up."
"Is that what you want Mr Crabbe?" She looked at him evenly. "You want to make up for your transgressions?"
"My what?" He looked at her confused.
"Transgressions, Mr Crabbe." Minerva wanted to roll her eyes. "It means…"
"I know what it means." He looked back at her coldly. "I'll bet that Draco is back in good graces. The Malfoy's could always pick the opportune time to make better choices couldn't they? Tell me, was it before or after the Dark Lord fell that they changed their path? Was it Lucius or Narcissa that saved the family? My money is on Narcissa."
"Mr Crabbe, that is uncalled for."
"Sure. I was not in the position to change sides at the last minute." He looked around the office and then turned and walked out of the office hearing Minerva calling him back.
He felt tears in his eyes and did not want to face her this way. He had to get out, to go some place that he could feel safe in, somewhere he would feel accepted. He could think of only one person who had treated him civilly and was not at all sure why he should want to see her.
He walked back into the wand shop and saw Helen again on a ladder with a dust rag in her hand attempting to clean.
"Magic works," he chuckled at her face as she scowled down at him.
"Yeah, sure." She nodded toward the shelf in the back, which had all the boxes tossed to a pile on the floor in front of it. "All it takes is one wand, with a similar core to reject the spell, and that is what I get."
"One would think you could store all the wands with a like core on a separate shelf," he ginned at her, pushing back his hood.
"So, where were you an hour ago when I could have used your help?" She raised her eyebrow at him.
"Thinking of collecting you for lunch," he tried to sound confident and at ease.
"Right," she smirked. "I can see a Crabbe and a Dolohov walking in together. The Aurors will be renting up the next table."
"How do you come to work here?" He looked around the shop again, realizing he had yet to see Mr. Ollivander.
"He decided not to reopen," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. "I had some money that the Ministry didn't take, so I bought him out."
"You own it then?" He raised his eyebrow at her.
"I learned to make wands in Germany, and then did a year in Italy." She smiled at the look on his face. "My grandfather made wands I learned from him."
"What about school?" He watched as she picked up her cloak and threw it over her shoulders.
"Home schooled," she said grinning. "They didn't want me mixing with the wrong sort."
"Yeah, I guess we both got stung on that one. So, how about Tom's for that lunch?"
"Sure, since you are the only customer I have had in three days I don't think I will be missed." She walked over to the door and flipped the sign to read Closed.
She and Vincent walked down the pavement not talking, he with his hood pulled firmly down to hide his face, she with her chin held firmly up refusing to hide. She stole glances at him and when they finally had taken a seat at the Leaky Cauldron decided to say what was on her mind.
"Your face is not that bad you know," she said boldly. "You could leave your hood down."
"It's not the scars," he said quietly. "I don't want to be bothered."
"Then just tell everyone to fuck off," she grinned seeing his head snap up when she swore. "You shouldn't let them win."
Vincent looked at her without saying anything until Tom laid down their lunch and walked away from the table. Slowly reaching up he pushed back the hood.
"I feel fine in front of people I know," he said softly. "It's the ones I don't know that I am nervous around."
They talked though lunch about childhood and school, comparing what classes he had taken to what she had studied at home. Vincent was surprised at the extent of her learning.
"I never paid much attention to school," he admitted. "It was a given I was going to work for the Malfoy's. I never had to worry about O.W.L.S. and N.E.W.T. exams."
"What do you plan on doing now?" Helen asked as she took a bite from her sandwich. "I am sure the Ministry didn't leave you with anything more then they left me."
"I thought to sell the house."
"You won't get much for it." She shook her head at him. "I tried to get rid of some property myself. You may as well plan on keeping it a while until the market comes back."
"I am not even sure I could sell it," he paused. "A Crabbe has been in that house for eight generations. That may sound stupid, but its mine, and … I don't know. It just doesn't seem right to let it go."
"You could try to lease it." She signalled to Tom that they were done. "If you could lease an apartment for less than you get, you would have some extra each month."
"Even so, I can't sell it for years. It is tied up in the Estate my Grandparents set up." He told her some of what Gringotts had informed him. "I guess they wanted to skip my father and leave it to me."
"Wise, maybe they suspected something would happen like this."
He shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't know them. They died in the first war."
"I hear that Hogwarts is allowing the students that missed last year to make up their N.E.W.T. exams. Maybe you could take the test and see what happens."
"Yeah," he snorted, "I can see that now. The stupidest kid in school wants to take his test."
"You have a year to study." She raised an eyebrow at him. "You could get a tutor and study you know."
"Right." He shook his head. "I am sure I can just walk into the school and everyone would flock to help me."
Helen stood with Vincent as he put enough Galleons on the table to cover the bill Tom had left. A he started to raise his hood Helen reached out and stopped his hand.
"Leave it." She turned for the door as he shrugged and followed.
They walked toward the wand shop not talking. Vincent kept his head lowered, more out of habit than to hide his face. He became aware of his posture as they passed the shop fronts and saw his reflection. He raised his head and frowned. He realized this was how others saw him, and for the first time in his life wanted more than to be accepted as someone else's loyal follower, but his own person. He stopped and looked at himself until Helen gently pulled on his arm.
"Is something wrong Vincent?"
"No, I was just thinking…" He turned to her suddenly. "I have to get back to the house. I have something I have to do."
"Sure." She looked at him puzzled. "Stop in sometimes, and thanks for lunch."
He turned and rushed off to the apparation point where he looked around quickly feeling a strange prickling. Seeing Draco across the road watching him, he made no indication that he knew the blond haired wizard as he spun away.
"Elsie," he called as he entered the front door. "Floo the Ministry, get someone over here and be quick about it."
"Master?" Elsie ran to the floo, looking back in question.
"Tell them I have things I have found. Tell them I am cleaning house. Tell them you didn't know about the secrete wall."
He threw his robes on the chair then walked to the liquor cabinet and poured a glass of firewhiskey, knocking it back and pouring his second before replacing the bottle. He watched Elsie on her knees in front of the floo talking to some one. Elsie stood up and turned to look at him.
"They is coming through," she said stepping away from the fireplace as two Ministry officials stepped into the room.
"Mr Weasley?" Vincent looked at who could only be Ronald's father. "I think we met once, at Hogwarts."
"Mr. Crabbe." Arthur held out his hand to Vincent with a kindly smile.
Vincent stepped up to Arthur and shook his hand, thankful that an unknown Auror had not been sent.
"This is my assistant, Mr Miller." Arthur stepped out of the way to wave the second Ministry official forward.
"Mr Crabbe," he said. "Arthur here said you have some items for us."
"Yes," Vincent said as he watched Elsie walk backwards from the room. "I have been clearing the house out and have come across some rather dark items you may be interested in. If you will follow me to the dungeons."
Vincent walked out of the room and down to the end of the hallway. There he pressed a panel in the wall, and tapped it with his wand opening a different set of stairs then the Ministry had first discovered leading down under the house. This was the original dungeon where Elsie hid the illegal items.
"Gentlemen." Vincent stepped aside to allow Arthur and his companion to go first.
"I am sure you will understand Vincent," Arthur said kindly. "We will follow you."
Vincent nodded, and started down the stairs realizing that Arthur did not trust him. He held his new wand lightly and uttered 'Nox" as the descended deeper under the main house. Once at the bottom of the stairs he opened the ancient door to the cell that held the boot.
"As you can see, there are things that must be carefully handled," he said stepping deeper into the room. "These things just came to my attention this morning."
"Mr Crabbe, do you have any idea what you have here?" Arthur held a book in his hand and slowly turning the pages. "This is very interesting."
"Mr Weasley," Vincent chuckled. "Do you really think I could decipher ancient potions and spells?"
Arthur turned red. "I did not mean that as an insult Vincent. We have been looking for this book since before the first war."
"What is it?"
"This explains how the Dark Marks were created and activated." Arthur looked up from the book to Vincent. "With this we can locate the rogue Death Eaters Mr Crabbe. The Ministry will owe you a debt of appreciation."
"I expect nothing, Mr Weasley, except to be left alone."
"I am afraid we will be unable to do that for the next few days." Arthur looked at the pile of magical items in front of him. "These pensives alone will generate many questions. We may need for you to visit them with us to identify the who and the where."
Vincent looked at the odd assortment of pensives strewn across the room and felt ill. Knowing his father's taste in torture, he was not sure he could do what was asked. These memories would show more than the simple and bloodless Cruciatus Curse; these memories would show the true horrors of the Dark Lords appetites.
Arthur and his companion picked up other items and looked at Vincent, both wondering how much the youth knew of what was contained. Arthur saw several vials that the held up to the light and examined, frowning when he thought he identified the contents.
"Mr Crabbe," he said. "What can you tell me of these?"
"I don't know." Vincent shrugged. "Listen, I don't know what half this stuff if for. I never got that heavily involved in anything more than, well, I was like the bodyguard. It was my job to sort of watch over Draco Malfoy."
"You will forgive us if we don't believe that," Mr Miller said.
"Now Alex." Arthur turned to him. "Mr Crabbe has called us here of his own free will. We can at least offer him some appreciation."
"Yeah," Alex Miller smirked. "You believe he doesn't know what this stuff is for?"
Arthur looked at Vincent then turned back to Alex. "Yes, yes I do."
"Fine, we take the book and the blood with us." Alex took the vials from Arthur, holding them to the light as if he could see to whom it belonged. "We will send the Aurors to collect the rest."
"I trust that meets with your wishes Mr Crabbe?" Arthur asked.
"Of course, if I am out Elsie will open the door for you." Vincent walked out of the cell and back upstairs. "Elsie, see the gentlemen out."
Vincent went to his bedroom and shut the door behind him. He took deep breaths, sitting heavily on the side of his bed. He felt as if he was going to be sick, and lowered his head to stop the spinning. He had forgotten about the blood. The blood that his father had taken from his victims. He did not know the purpose, only to see it still liquid, still viable sickened him.
"Master?" Elsie called to him softly.
"Not now." He sat with his head lowered. "No, wait. Do you know what the blood was for?"
"No, Master."
"Leave me." Vincent waited until he heard the pop of Elsie's leave taking, he then laid down on the bed to sleep. He was suddenly tired, and had over estimated the energy that today would take from his still healing body.
He lay on the bed staring at the ceiling thinking about what he would do next. He closed his eyes, bringing his arm up and laying it across his eyes. He sought sleep but gave up after a while, knowing that once again it was lost to him. Getting up again, he took up the history book he had been trying to read and settling back in his chair, opened it to the first page and started over.
Vincent read over what he had already read, this time making sense of what he found on the pages. He frowned and called Elsie to bring him parchment and quill to write down the words he was unsure of, suddenly determined to pass at least one N.E.W.T level exam.
He thought history would be the easiest of the several exams. Looking at the calendar, and the shelf that contained the books he would have to read, he sighed and shook his head. Then, picking up the quill, he began.
"Master?" Elsie stood with a tray of food.
"I did not ask for anything Elsie." He scowled at her.
"Yous need to eat. Yous too thin."
"Elsie, if it is one thing I am not, it is too thin." Vincent frowned at her.
"Yes Master, since you accident you too thin."
"It was not an accident. Don't refer to it as if it was," he scowled at her, and looked at the food tray. He had not regained his appetite since his convalescence and the food only made him feel nauseous.
"Leave me Elsie, just leave me be." He turned back to his book and continued to study.
It took him two weeks to complete the book, and one more to read it again, pleased that he did not need the quill and dictionary to go through it this time. He started on the second tomb, and found it easier than the first.
He went to Diagon Alley to find a book that was referenced when he reached the third volume. He did not wear his hood this time and found people did not stare at him, or avoid him on the pavement. He had just purchased his reference when he turned and spotted Draco Malfoy.
Draco was leaning up against a bookcase, leafing though a book, of what Crabbe could not tell from where he stood. Draco looked up, as if aware of eyes upon him, and seeing Crabbe he merely nodded and returned to his book.
Vincent's back grew stiff, he fought the urge to rail at the blond wizard, to vent and allow his rage to show. Instead, he turned and walked out the door calmly. Catching his reflection in the window, he almost smiled.
Gone was the heavy youth, the short hair, and the vacant eyed look. Here was a rather tall and lank wizard, with piercing eyes and long hair, caught up in a leather tie. Gone was any visage of youth, any resemblance of gaiety or humour. He grinned realizing that Draco had not recognized him.
Vincent headed to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch, and as he was passing the wand shop, he opened the door and walked in, thinking to collect Helen. Looking up he saw the bell missing from over the door. He did not see her when he stepped in, and found the shop too quiet, too still. Slowly sliding his hand into his pocket, and retrieving his wand, he stalked to the back room.
Muffled sounds, moans and soft thumps came to him. He paused, not wanting to disturb Helen if she was with someone and busily engaged. He was ready to leave when he heard her muffled cries, and throwing the curtain back he saw a familiar black robe and half-silver mask holding Helen against the wall, a wand at the throat, and a hand ripping at her clothing.
Without thinking, his wand stretched out in front of him, and the first curse that came to his mind flew from his mouth. Avada Kedavra and a flash of green light followed his wands movement.
Hurrying over to Helen, he helped her up from where she had slumped to the floor.
"Helen?" Vincent whispered. "Are you okay?"
She looked up at him in tears. Her hand went to her throat where bruises were already beginning to show, and then her arms went out around his neck.
"Vincent," she cried. "He surprised me. I came back here to get my cloak and he was here, waiting. He just grabbed me, and…"
"It's done now." Vincent took her arms down from his neck and stepped back to look at her better. "Are you okay?"
She nodded at him as the sound of footsteps and yells came from the front. "I guess I won't be able to take you to lunch today." He tried to smile.
The curtains ripped back and two Aurors stood with wands pulled. Taking in the scene in front of them, they quickly disarmed Vincent with a simple "Accio, Wand," and separated him from Helen. One taking Helen to the front of the shop to question her, and the second to ask Vincent what had happened.
Looking at the body on the floor, the Auror tucked Vincent's wand into his pocket, and with a flick of his wand bound Vincent's hands behind his back.
"Talk." He pointed his wand at Vincent. "It better be good."
"Merlin's sake man, it's a Death Eater, what do you think happened?" Vincent sneered.
"That's what I need to hear from you."
"I just walked in and found him attacking Miss Dolohov." Vincent struggled against the ropes.
"How do you know Miss Dolohov?'
"We are just…" he said, then paused. "I bought my wand from her."
"I am afraid Mr..?"
"Crabbe, Vincent Crabbe." He saw the look that came over the Aurors face.
"Did you know him?" The Auror nodded toward the body on the floor.
"No," Vincent said with a hiss.
"I am afraid that the use of an Unforgivable is not tolerated at any time, for any reason." He looked back at the curtain. "I know what was happening here, but there are other spells you could have used."
"I didn't…" Vincent licked his lips and looked around. "I just said the first thing I thought of. He was going to …, he was going to hurt her."
"Hurt me?" Helen came though the curtains and stood in front of Vincent. "He was going to rape me, then kill me. They are still out to get the 'blood traitors,' you know that."
"Yeah, I also know what the Crabbe's are like." He sneered at her. "Listen Miss Dolohov, if you know what's good for you, stay out of this."
"Stay out of this?" She looked at him incredulously. "He did this to save me, in my shop. How would you suggest I stay out of this?"
"Helen," Vincent said roughly, not taking his eyes off the Auror. "Stop. Just lock up for the day, go home."
"He's right," the Auror said, smiling. "He won't be going anywhere except for Azkaban."
"Azkaban? When is his trial?" She demanded.
"Helen," Vincent said. "I will not see a trial. Will I?"
"Not once we test your wand and verify the last spell."
Vincent nodded and walked past the Auror out to the front of the shop where the other Auror stood ginning at him.
"I remember you Crabbe," he smirked. "It's about time you got what's coming to you."
Vincent Crabbe only nodded and walked to the door where he stopped and waited for the Auror to open the door. Then stepping outside he raised his chin to feel the sun on his face and wondered if anyone would miss him.