Truth
Truth tends to be an objective thing, an absolute. Yet it merely tends. There are times when everyone has their own truth, their own Cause. What one side may call lies and idiocy, the other holds up as the holly Right.
Social cleansing and revolution had never been easily won or easily accepted. There were always two sides in these cases, two rivers of blood, two truths, nether one more tainted than the other for both were destructive, it simply depended on what side one took.
Augustus had always believed that. He had always believed in the sacredness of their Cause. His truth was the salvation of his world from the disease that permeated it.
Trust
The worst thing was that they trusted him.
It physically hurt to arrive at the Rosiers' that evening by port key and stand watching Evan and Jack play cards. He wondered what they would say if they knew that he was now on the other side – their enemy.
"Sev! How did you get in so quietly? Come play with us." Evan waved him over and Snape forced himself to step into the light of the fireplace. He almost expected Evan to see right through him, to cry out in horror. But neither of them noticed a thing.
They trusted him.
Honor
The thing that Igor admired most about Antonin was his sense of honor. Something that was passed on to him from his Russian courtier ancestors. Or maybe it was a quality that Tony simply had with no explanation to it other that he was an honorable man by nature. Duty, bravery, loyalty, integrity, decency – all ideals that Antonin embodied.
Igor wasn't like that. He was far more cowardly and egotistic. He had a low tolerance for discomfort and no moral code could sustain him.
Antonin was the man Igor admired the most. He was also the first man Karkaroff betrayed.
Loyalty
"You did…what?"
"Lucius, please…don't look at me like that."
"Don't look at you like that? How am I supposed to look at you! After what you did…I thought I knew where your loyalty lay, Severus. I felt something had changed but to reveal my suspicions would have been too costly to you so I kept my mouth shut because my loyalty lay with you…Are you happy now? Are you happy that we've lost? That Evan's dead? That Tony and Bella are in Azkaban? Tell me!"
"No!"
"Then why—"
"Because my loyalty always lay with Lily Evans. You knew that."
Love
Lucius watched her as she walked by the lake with their newborn son. Draco was so little and…pink and she so beautiful.
Love was not always the reason for a pureblood marriage. Marriages were more often based on rank and purity of blood than anything else.
Lucius considered himself lucky. He was able to marry the woman he loved. His beautiful Narcissa – once his dream – was now his wife and she had born him an heir.
As he watched his wife and son by the lake, Lucius swore to protect them by any means. Because he loved them more than anything.