Chapter 2: The Secret of the Malfoys
22 Years Later
The Malfoy Mansion was quiet these days. Rarely was anyone spotted traversing its long, straight drive, past the hedges that line either side of it, nor was anyone seen outside on its grounds, tending to the gardens. The house was quiet and still by day, the same was true for night. Perhaps no one lived there at all. One who would walk along its fence and look up at the handsome manor might think so, the only clue there was that anyone whatsoever inhabited it was seen at night. Light poured from the windows at night, casting pale yellow glows across the dark grass and giving the place an air of a haunted house. Of course it was not haunted, but its residents were being held hostage.
On an unnaturally cool night near the end of summer and July, a light on the first floor flickered into existence. Inside sat five members of the Malfoy family, one stood before them, hands clutched behind his back. Narcissa Malfoy, her son Draco, his wife Pansy Parkinson Malfoy, and their child Scorpious all sat upon the black velvet sofa in the den of the mansion. Bellatrix Lestrange, aunt of Draco and sister of Narcissa, dressed in ebony robes was seated upon a reclining velvet chair, which was usually occupied by Lucius Malfoy who instead stood before all of them, his back turned.
Most everyone in the room looked similar, all were pale white, and had white-blonde hair, save for Narcissa and Lucius whose hair was now turning gray. However Bellatrix and Pansy differed, Bellatrix with her heavily lidded eyes and long black hair, which was just now starting to streak with gray, looked as though she was not even related to Draco, Lucius, Narcissa, or Scorpious. And Pansy, who was Draco's wife, was expected to differ so she was not so out of place.
All eyes were on Lucius, whose graying hair spread across his back, it looked like a beacon of light on his dark black robes. At his side, leaning against another black chair was his walking stick which concealed his new wand. The silver head of a serpent with two emeralds for eyes stood on top of it, attached to the wand. However another one protruded from the pocket of his robes, one made of yew with a phoenix feather core, the wand of Lord Voldemort.
Gazes flickered to the skinny Russian man who was spread across the large marble coffee table and seemed to be unconscious. The man gave a low groan as Lucius spun to face them all, his face was that of the younger Lucius Malfoy, not plagued with many wrinkles from old age; however his eyes were those of Lord Voldemort's. Blood red eyes, with slit like pupils they were. And when Lucius spoke it was not in his normal, smooth voice, but in that of Lord Voldemort's raspy, hissing, icy one.
"You, Narcissa," began Lucias, Voldemort's voice coming from his lips. "You do not look pleased with my presence in your home."
Narcissa did not answer. She merely met Voldemort's eyes for a fleeting second before looking away.
"Are you not still loyal to me?"
"I am loyal to you my lord." replied Narcissa quietly.
"What lies you tell, to the face of your husband but to the ears of Lord Voldemort, and Lord Voldemort knows, he always knows when he is being lied to."
Narcissa did not respond, she merely looked down at her lap helplessly, Bellatrix let out a quiet, hissing snicker.
"And you Draco," addressed Voldemort's voice. "I suppose your thoughts lie with your dead father. Tell me, why should Lucius have lived, his body is useful to me, at least until a regain my own. You Draco, Narcissa, were my loyal followers until Lucius failed me and he was punished. If it had not been for his… betrayal then you would still be my faithful servants!"
Again no one answered. Everyone except Bellatrix and the Russian man (who was unconscious) avoided Lucius's, or Voldemort's eyes.
"Alas, whether you wish to or not… you will serve me, or Bella and I will be forced to kill your grandson Narcissa, your son Draco, and then the rest of you. Do you wish that?"
"No," said Narcissa, Draco, and Pansy in unison.
"I thought not…. Lord Voldemort is a merciful man; I shall spare your grandson Narcissa, your son Draco, if you do as I ask, and once I have my Horcrux, once I have my body back… you will all be rid of me." said Voldemort. "What say you my dear Bella? Can you host an escape from Azkaban?"
"I can my lord Voldemort." Bellatrix hissed. "He has told me everything I need to know."
She pointed one of her long white fingers at the unconscious Russian man on the floor. Lucius's eyebrow cocked.
"Do you know who this is?" Voldemort's voice asked Narcissa, Draco, Pansy, and Scorpious.
They each gave a reply equivalent to no, mumbling other words.
"I trust your auntie Bellatrix can inform you Draco. I trust she can inform all of you."
"Yes, yes, of course." said Bellatrix in an emotional, accepting voice, as though a king had just asked her to marry his son. Bellatrix Lestrange extended her finger once more to point at the man. "Alexey Dashkov, works at Azkaban prison he does. He knows the best way to break out, the best way to bypass security since the dementors no longer guard it."
"And have you obtained your information my dear Bellatrix?" asked Voldemort.
"I have my Lord Voldemort." declared Bellatrix smugly, as though she had accomplished some great feat and proved herself worthy, and loyal to her master once more.
"Very good, wake our guest up then Bellatrix. I prefer to watch the light leave my victim's eyes before I kill them."
"Aren't you going to confide your plan to us my lord?" asked Pansy nervously.
"To you?" asked Voldemort's voice amused. "I don't see a reason that you need to be confided to Mrs. Malfoy, nor you Draco, nor you Narcissa. The only reason you still remain living is because you have grudgingly harbored me in your home, and because I might have some use for you."
"Grudgingly," mumbled Draco. "You're bloody well holding us hostage."
Lucius's hand drew Lord Voldemort's long yew wand and pointed it directly at Draco's chest. He hissed angrily, like his old pet snake Nagini, and if it was entirely possible Voldemort's eyes seemed to glow a brighter red.
"Young master Draco… such insolence toward Lord Voldemort. You may, perhaps, for lack of a better word be my host. But Lord Voldemort will not suffer such insolence from his hosts, no matter how their hospitality is. Crucio!"
Draco had no time. The Cruciatus Curse took immediate effect on him. He fell from the sofa and onto the lushly carpeted floor. He withered and cried out in agony, it felt as though a thousand white hot knives were being driven into every possible piece of his flesh. His wife and his child gasped, attempting to go and comfort him, though Lucius swept his hand menacingly as Voldemort would not allow it. The Dark Lord watched through the body of Lucius as Draco cried out from the torture, he allowed it to continue for a minute, a minute that dragged on for an eternity to Draco, Narcissa, Pansy, Scorupious, and Bellatrix (though she rather enjoyed it and giggled quite shrilly and cruelly). Finally Lucius's hand waved Voldemort's wand and the pain vanished. Draco pulled himself back onto the sofa, still shivering slightly from the torture.
"I trust there will be no more insolence Draco?" asked Voldemort through Lucius. Though it was more of a statement than it was a question, like a warning, sugar coated in a notice, like when a neighbor says 'excuse me, we will be having a very loud party tonight if you don't mind.'
"No," Draco mumbled.
"Good," hissed Voldemort. "Bellatrix, our guest must be awoken."
"Of course," said Bellatrix gleefully. She pointed her own wand and the Russian man, strewn across the coffee table and bit an incantation. "Crucio!"
Alexey Dashkov's eyelid flew back, revealing his dark brown eyes. He screamed at the top of his lungs and convulsed horribly as the Cruciatus Curse took hold of him again (Bellatrix had tortured him so extensively he was on the verge of madness). Voldemort's snakelike eyes watched from Lucius's eye sockets. Bellatrix let out shrieking, raucous, insane laughter.
"That's enough," said Voldemort quietly. Bellatrix looked up at him, a silent plea in her eyes to let the torturing continue. Voldemort's mind was set firm, however. With the wave of her a wand Dashkov's pain vanished. He took in deep, gulping breaths of air as though he had just surfaced from under water after an extending period of time. Scorpious looked from him, to Voldemort, to Bellatrix with fear in his young eyes, just as Dashkov looked into the face of Lucius, and the eyes of Voldemort with utter terror in his.
"Don't—don't kill me!" pleaded Dashkov. Voldemort chuckled coldly.
"You have caught me in a merciful mood." said the Dark Lord. In a flash of movement Lucius's hands yanked the silver serpent head off of his walking stick, revealing the wand it concealed. He tossed this wand to the defenseless Russian wizard who barely caught it, Bellatrix laughed horribly at this. "Defend yourself."
Dashkov, shaking visibly, got to his feet and glanced over Lucius Malfoy's wand which he slowly pointed at the old man's possessed body as though expecting to be killed the moment he aimed it. Lord Voldemort seemed to sense these thoughts.
"Oh no sir Dashkov, no, Lord Voldemort is not unfair. You will be given a fighting chance." hissed the Dark Lord's voice.
Dashkov audibly gulped and gazed at the wand, as if deciding which curse to employ. Lucius, controlled by Voldemort, simply stood there, the yew wand held at ease in his right hand, as though he was going to let Dashkov's curse hit him, or else did not think it worth his time to lift it into a defensive position. Finally Dashkov took one last look into the crimson snake eyes of Lord Voldemort before crying,
"Impendimenta!"
"Protego." said Voldemort, Lucius lazily flicked the yew wand and a magical shield stopped the curse from hitting its target, it simply bounced off the barrier and flew towards a large window, shattering it on impact. Narcissa pointed her own wand at it and all the glass shards came together like a giant puzzle, blending seamlessly. No one took notice. Dashkov gasped as his curse flew away. He opened his mouth to utter another one but it was far too late.
"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort's voice snapped.
A jet of emerald light flew from the tip of the yew wand and hit Alexey Dashkov square in the chest. The Malfoys looked away at his body fell to the floor, staring into space. Bellatrix snickered lightly.
"Now," said Voldemort to Draco. "Dispose of that filthy mudblood, your son can assist you."
Of course how exactly Voldemort is possessing dead Lucius's body will eventually be revealed…. Also we may want to note that this is my interpretation of what would happen after Deathly Hallows, thus it WILL NOT follow what JKR has outlined happened to certain characters such as Umbridge, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, McGonagall, Slughorn… to name a few. And so if you have read what JKR has stated as happening after the books you'll notice some of this material conflicts with hers, most notably when I'll bring evil Umbridge in just to annoy people and get her butt kicked, this is intentional. Thank you, so no comments on how stuff differs please.
