Behind Closed Doors

Chapter 14: Sins of the Father

Now hush little baby, don't you cry
Everything's gonna be alright
Stiffen that upper lip up little lady, I told ya
Daddy's here to hold ya through the night
I know mommy's not here right now and we don't know why
We feel how we feel inside
It may seem a little crazy, pretty baby
But I promise momma's gon' be alright

The mood in the waiting room just off of the reception area at Auror Headquarters was quite somber. Narcissa Malfoy sat beside her husband, still looking as elegant as ever even as the clock directly across and above them approached two o'clock in the morning. This evening had been severely draining emotionally to say the least.

Eight Hours Earlier….

Narcissa Malfoy was not expecting the owl that tapped on the window of her own study that afternoon on the last day of May. The sound of the animal's beak meeting the glass pane of the window frightened her as she stood there gathering her things for a weekend away with Lucius before the children came home.

She crossed to the window and admitted the creature inside. Upon delivering its message to her, the owl departed. Breaking the seal which bore the familiar crest of Hogwarts, Narcissa felt an unexplainable sense of dread overcome her. She removed the letter and opened it, scanning the contents. She only got past the first paragraph before the letter dropped from her hands and fluttered to the floor.

"Lucius!" Narcissa exclaimed in a tone somewhere between a cry and a moan.

Lucius came out of his study immediately upon hearing the summons, never having heard his wife sound so distressed before.

"Cissa, what is it?" He asked using the familiar form of her name. He looked and sounded alarmed.

"Zara has been taken into the Chamber of Secrets," She replied in a faint voice before turning her gaze on him. "Oh Lucius," She whispered sadly. "What have you done?"

Lucius looked like he had been hit by a bludger, "That's impossible," He finally managed to say in a choked voice. "I gave the diary to the Weasley girl."

"She has been taken too. We need to go to Hogwarts. The anti-apparition charms have been removed so we can apparate into the entrance hall."

Lucius could only nod and with two loud cracks, they were gone.

"I could kill them," Lucius murmured angrily. "What were those aurors thinking stunning a child?"

"I'm sure Zara will come to no harm. She has been subjected to worse," Narcissa answered in a soft seemingly distracted tone.

"If Zara is hurt in any way so help me—"

"You'll what?" Narcissa asked turning to look at him. Her eyes were blazing. "Lucius, you set all of this in motion."

"So all of this is my fault?" He asked sounding angry and somewhat hurt.

"No," She admitted, her face softening. "I should have said something. I had reservations about your plans for the diary from the start."

"Then why didn't you?" He asked lacing his fingers through hers.

"I let my distaste for the Weasleys and my beliefs color my judgment," She said and then paused choosing her words carefully. "You are not Bellatrix Lucius. You do not do harm for your own pleasure. It is always for a reason. The Dark Lord may not have cared whether he involved children in the course of the last war. But I do. You gave that diary to the Weasley girl and she had nothing to do with our sentiments toward her parents. And at the end of the day, she is no different than Zara. They are both innocent little girls."

"Are you proposing that we renounce the Death Eaters?" Lucius asked this so quietly, it was as if he expected someone to be listening to their conversation.

"No of course I don't. As we've previously discussed, our commitment to the Dark Lord must never waver. We make the decision to join of our own free will and nowhere will be safe for us or the children if we leave once the Dark Lord returns."

"Zara is already unsafe. The Dark Lord will want her when he returns," Lucius said finally forcing himself to face the awful truth. "You are right my darling. I gave the diary to the Weasley girl and not only that, the danger was right in front of me and I never saw it."

Narcissa stroked his face gently trying to ease the obvious pain that her husband was now feeling. She instantly regretted what she had said earlier about Lucius setting things in motion. While it might have been technically true, the last thing she wanted to do was to compound his guilt. "Fate had a hand in this as well Lucius. Zara making Gryffindor was something both of us didn't expect."

He nodded "Yes. But I should have known this would happen. Zara is a social child and with only four other girls in her dormitory how could she have not befriended the Weasley girl?" Lucius asked not expecting an answer to this question. Just then an image popped unbidden into his mind. Zara came up from the Quidditch pitch last September talking animatedly to a girl with flaming red hair. "I saw her talking to the Weasley girl the day I gave the brooms to Draco. I saw them together and I never thought about it. Merlin, Narcissa. What have I done?"

Elsewhere, Nyphadora Tonks entered her parents home at close to three am that night. She had been sent home for the night once she had told everyone that Zara was awake. She felt sick. Even though she was not yet qualified to be an auror, Tonks knew that the child she had left in Scrimgeour's office was not a dark wizard by any stretch of the imagination. As she walked to the kitchen to get something to eat, she could still picture the little girl with the flaxen locks sitting on the sofa in her filthy uniform begging Tonks to stay.

A voice startled Tonks out of her thoughts causing her to look up.

"I didn't mean to startle you Dora," Ted Tonks told his daughter and closed the refrigerator door. "Another raid?" He asked.

"No," Tonks said shaking her head. "Something else entirely," She said and opened the fridge before pulling out leftovers from dinner and fixing herself a plate.

"What's the matter sweetheart?" Ted asked studying her. "You seem bothered by something."

Tonks hesitated before speaking. As a general rule, they never spoke about her mother's side of the family very often. As far as her mother Andromeda was concerned, she had made a choice to be with Ted Tonks and her sisters and parents had chosen to cut her out of their lives and that was that. "Mum's sister has a daughter named Zara and I had to sit with her at work today,"

"Sit with her? How did you even meet Zara Malfoy?"

"Kingsley Shaklebolt brought her in. He told me that she was the one who looked responsible for all the attacks at Hogwarts this year."

"And you don't believe that?" Ted asked.

"No I don't," Tonks said and then sighed. "She's eleven years old dad. I can't believe that she could have done something like that."

"What makes you say that Dora?"

"Zara seemed so confused and scared when she woke up like the Ministry was the last place she expected to be."

"Speaking of the Ministry, how did you end up with Zara?"

"I don't know. Scrimgeour himself requested me to stay with her until she woke up. Maybe he thought she wouldn't be so scared if she saw a friendly face."

"I see," He said quietly and then looked at his daughter, "Dora, I know you want Zara Malfoy to be innocent. But you know that evil can come in any form."

"I know," Tonks replied with a hint of desperation in her voice. "I've heard everyone say that the Malfoys were death eaters during the last war and that they got off because they could buy their way out. But I think Scrimgeour might take the fact that Lucius Malfoy never got convicted out on Zara. He claimed at the time that he was imperioused and it looked like Zara had been too. Her wand was examined and an unforgivable curse had been used. Last time I checked, they weren't on the first year curriculum at Hogwarts."

"No," Ted agreed. "They certainly aren't. But what do you want me to do about it Dora?"

"Talk to mum…tell her what happened. Maybe she could do something. Convince them that they're wrong."

"Even if your mother would agree Dora, the Malfoys might not want her help. There's a lot of bad blood between your mother and her sisters."

"I know there is dad. But in spite of everything that happened between all of you, Zara is family and we have to help her."

The cup of tea that was placed in front of Zara sat on the small coffee table stone cold. Time was slipping by and Zara had no idea how long she had been there. She stared at the pretty pattern of pink roses detailing the tea cup deep in thought. Her insides felt like Jello. What was going to happen to her? Was Zara going to Azkaban? Could they even do that? Was Zara really like her namesake and her cousin? All of these thoughts swirled around in her head like a tornado. The longer Zara was kept waiting the wilder and more desperate her thoughts were becoming. But she had good cause to be worried. No matter what the circumstances were Zara had still used the imperious curse on her best friend and tried to kill Professor Dumbledore. Those were not things characteristic of Zara. But judging from the time that had lapsed since Scrimgeour left the room, no one seemed to care.

After what seemed like forever the door opened and Zara's head shot up.

"Miss Malfoy," Scrimgeour said gesturing to her. "Come with me please."

Zara rose, "Where are we going?"

"You'll know when we get there," He said simply and Zara followed the auror out of the office.

The office was at the end of a corridor split into two parts. The center of the corridor was open leading to the reception area and several cubicles. As Zara walked past it, she caught a glimpse of blonde hair. She stopped as Scrimgeour continued to walk in front of her.

"Daddy?" She said quietly

Scrimgeour stopped having heard her and turned around to look at her.

At that moment all of Zara's resolve drained from her, "Daddy!" She exclaimed walking forward toward the reception area.

Lucius heard his daughter and turned around himself, his heart seeming to lift ever so slightly when he saw his daughter dirty and disheveled as she was. "Zara?"

"Daddy!" She called to him again as Scrimgeour restrained the young girl with an arm.

"You're not going home yet Ms. Malfoy," He said.

But Zara didn't care, "Daddy!" She said struggling against the older man tears pricking her eyes now.

With great ease, Scrimgeour picked Zara Malfoy up and carried her back to the corridor.

"Zara!" Lucius yelled and went after his daughter.

"Daddy!" Zara screamed at the top of her lungs, crying now.

Scrimgeour carried Zara toward a door at the end of the corridor even as she squirmed hard against him.

"DADDY!" Zara screamed again in a tone that was enough to make a person's blood curdle.

Lucius raced toward the corridor, "Zara!" He exclaimed arriving at the intersection of the corridor just in time to see his daughter disappear through the door.

"Daddy!" Zara sobbed even as the door clicked behind them.

Scrimgeour looked down at the girl. Lucius Malfoy wouldn't be able to buy or lie his way out of this one.

And if you ask me too
Daddy's gonna buy you a mockingbird
I'mma give you the world
I'mma buy a diamond ring for you
I'mma sing for you
I'll do anything for you to see you smile
And if that mockingbird don't sing and that ring don't shine
I'mma break that birdies neck
I'll go back to the jeweler who sold it to ya
And make him eat every carat don't fuck with dad

Lyrics: "Mockingbird"-Eminem

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