Disclaimer:- I neither own nor earn anything from Harry Potter, everything you recognise belongs to JK Rowling and associate. Only the plot is mine.

oOo

A/N:- There chapter contains more angst, however from the next chapter on, it becomes lighter. Sorry for the long break between chapters, but I did say I would only update this story when I was able. I hope you enjoy…

xXx

Chapter 2 – This Time He's Insane

Severus finally realised who the rat was, and why Black and Lupin had been so eager to dispose of it. "If only they'd trusted me," he seethed to Lucius after, the incident with the werewolf and Black's subsequent escape. "… but then why would they." Severus thumped his fist down on the arm of the chair, it jarred through him making him wince remembering the concussion he'd sustained when Potter had used the Granger girl's wand to knock him senseless.

Lucius was pinching the bridge of his nose. "We knew it wouldn't be long and we'd know who the traitor was," he glanced at Severus, "I for one would never have guessed it to be one of their loyal Gryffindors," then back to the fire as if deep in thought. He grimaced and downed the last of his drink. "There is little we can do in any case."

"That's very pragmatic of you, Lucius," Severus spat sarcastically.

"Well, there's not much point in being anything else, old friend," Lucius replied.

Severus finally started to settle down. "But they listened to the little cretin… Bloody stupid Gryffindors," he muttered.

"But do you know what's worse, Severus?" Snape cocked a tired eyebrow in inquiry. "The traitor concealed himself as a Gryffindor family pet for twelve years," Lucius looked hard at his friend, his brow furrowed with displeasure. "and, no… one… noticed," the last part of his sentence was spoken deliberately slowly.

An expression of horror passed over Severus' face. "Oh," he gasped, "You are right… you're bloody right," he closed his eyes and carefully rubbed his forehead. "We're all screwed. If this is the… oh we're screwed."

Then Draco came home for the summer, complaining bitterly. "That bloody mud-blood, Granger punched me, Father."

"Lucius, you must do something about this," Narcissa bleated, cradling her son's head against her breast.

But Lucius saw the sneaky smile on Draco's face. He hated that he couldn't yell at his son how much he detested the word mud-blood, but he simply sniffed. "I shall consult Severus," he said, and was gone.

He suspected the incident with the Hippogriff had been played up, and now this. Narcissa had had such a fit about her baby boy being injured that she'd called the department of Magical Animal Control, and that fool MacNair.

Of course I gained the blame for it, even when I'd had nothing to do with the incident, I was away at the time, Lucius thought, as he strode towards Severus' office.

"Lucius, that boy of yours is becoming a spoilt little powder-puff. Get him away from his bloody mother," Severus told him in no uncertain terms.

Lucius snarled, but Severus ignored him and continued. "As incompetent as that lumbering oaf Hagrid is to manage a class, Draco was being a little prick at the time. His arm only sustained a small scratch, and yet he paraded around with his arm in a sling for days. Narcissa is a fool for encouraging him." He looked at his slowly settling friend and continued, "I applaud Granger for smacking him one over the incident, I certainly would off, had I been free to show my true allegiances."

"Oh," Lucius huffed, the wind completely gone from his sails. "Perhaps over the holidays I should take him to the World Cup."

"That may be an excellent idea," Snape agreed.

Of course that was when 'they' resurfaced to rescue a comrade. How could any of them know of Bartemius Crouch's deception in hiding his insane son, or that—the rat—Peter Pettigrew had already found the remains of Voldemort? Then that the two facts became important when Pettigrew met Bertha Jorkins while still in Albania with his ailing lord.

So there was a dark revel at the world cup, the first in fifteen years. Lucius had cringed in terror seeing the Mors Mordre light the sky once more. He and Draco had been at the official reception for the winners and had not known anything about it. However, in the ensuing panic, he'd lost Draco in the crowd, eventually he found him casually leaning on a tree watching, desperately trying to hide the slightly panicked look on his face.

xox

The next year was the first Tri-wizard tournament since 1792. There is another new Defence Against The Dark Arts professor. Severus had been denied the position he wanted, yet again. "The old man still doesn't trust me, even if he has got me under an unbreakable," he told Lucius when the appointment had been announced, and the hurt was evident in his voice. "Merlin knows Lucius, I've wallowed in darkness. I am the best person to arm these young people against it, why can't he see that? I know there's a curse on the position, but I only need one year to teach them properly."

"Perhaps he's saving you for a time when they're older," Lucius tried lamely, not really believing what he was saying. Albus Dumbledore had his faults, big glaring ones, but he was smart and surely he would want his students armed as best as he could. Lucius shook his head.

Neither Severus nor Lucius trusted the new DADA teacher, and as the year started that situation did not improve, particularly when items started going missing from Severus' supplies, so the Potions master warded them more strongly. He questioned Potter, and found, through Legilimency, while doing so that the boy honestly didn't know anything about it.

Severus took his to suspicions Albus, who laughed. "He actually laughed at me," Severus growled to Lucius.

"Well, who do you think he's going to believe?" Lucius was pensive a moment. "What do you think is being made," he waved his hand in the air, "from what's been stolen?"

"Lace-wing flies, powdered Bi-corn horn and Boomslang skin… the most likely thing is Polyjuice Potion," Severus confirmed. "The remainder of the ingredients are easy enough to get. Mind you, if the Fluxweed isn't picked at full moon, it's poisonous, perhaps with any luck whoever it is will drop dead unexpectedly," Severus laughed.

Lucius merely smirked, and asked his next question. "If someone is Polyjuiced, can you force them to change back with a spell… you know like an Animagus?"

"No." Severus huffed, "But there's definitely something weird about that Moody. It's one thing to be paranoid enough to only drink from your hip flask, but he eats and drinks with us at table and no one else seems to have noticed."

The year wore on tediously. For not the first time Severus found himself on the same side as McGonagall when Potter mysteriously ended up in the tournament. He was horrified when Albus asked Moody to keep an eye on the hapless wizard. Did the old man truly see nothing wrong with Moody? Even after he demonstrated the three Unforgiveable Curses to Potter's DADA class the old man still didn't seem to see it.

"And that's another thing," Severus said, after the infamous demonstration. "Moody may be a bastard, but he had a lot of respect for Alice and Frank Longbottom, why would he demonstrate the Crucio curse in front of their son, knowing what had happened to them?"

"You have a point," Lucius nodded, "That was unusually cruel," the blond wizard said, thoughtfully. He raised a pale eyebrow listening as Severus went off on another track.

"And now I've got that idiot Karkaroff following me around everywhere. The man's an imbecile," Snape commented.

"Well, he always was," Lucius agreed, like it was a known fact. "He'll end up in a ditch somewhere, mark my words."

Severus nodded.

It was not long after this that however, that Lucius took a very different view of Moody. "He turned my son into a ferret," he ranted. "A bloody ferret, Severus…" he paused to gesticulate wildly, "and then he forced him down that fool Goyle's trousers. Draco will be scarred for life."

"I am aware of what happened, Lucius, I've complained in my official capacity. Unfortunately the old man thought it was hilarious," Severus scoffed. "Mind you, old McGonagall stuck up for Draco, and that was unexpected. She also got further with Albus than I did as well; I think she may suspect foul-play as well."

Soon Christmas was approaching, and the Yule Ball was the talk of the moment. "It's about time Dumbledore gave into some of the more gracious customs of wizarding Britain," Lucius commented, Severus could tell he was still upset about the ferret incident, but had chosen to rise above it.

Of course, as a member of the board of Governors, Lucius and Narcissa were invited guests, and it was this night that Lucius saw a picture of innocence in a blushing rose coloured georgette gown. She wouldn't have been more than fifteen, and she was literally the most exquisite young woman he had ever seen. He longed to know who she was, but daren't ask. He noticed she was being escorted by the Bulgarian seeker Krum. Wouldn't have thought he would have such fine taste, he's a Neanderthal who walks like a duck, he pondered quietly, still watching Krum's partner.

He also caught Severus watching her. "Who is she?" he breathed quietly, to his friend.

Severus sighed, "That… is Hermione Granger," his friend whispered back. "She's becoming a fine young witch."

Lucius was shocked, the little girl who had been so polite to him in Flourish and Blotts that day, had blossomed into this exquisite creature before him. He knew he should have been disgusted with himself for admiring the young woman, and he honestly tried to watch other things, but his eyes just kept coming back to her.

Both Severus and Lucius were watching later that night when Weasley insulted her and she left in tears. Later that night, safely back in Lucius' study Severus commented. "There are large cracks appearing in the friendship Albus has so carefully nurtured between those two idiot boys and the Granger girl."

"What can we do about it?" Lucius inquired over the rim of his Firewhisky.

"Precious little, they have become teenagers, and Miss Granger is way above them in maturity." He scoffed, "You know the other day in Study Hall, I actually overheard Weasley say to her, 'You're a girl, Hermione'," The corner of his mouth turned up, "and if she had chosen to hex him for his remark, I was planning to turn a blind eye." He took a deep breath and said, "As it was, she handed me her completed work and left. Mind you I found a reason to give them both a clip round the ear a short time later."

However, before either of them had long to contemplate Miss Granger, or anything else, the nightmare returned on the last night of the Tri-wizard tournament.

Karkaroff had been right, there had been warning signs, and there was no running from it, Lucius felt his mark burn and he knew there was no way out. He actually vomited before clothing himself in his most hated guise, answering the call and lying through his teeth to the madman.

xox

Draco's fifth year at Hogwarts saw Voldemort sympathisers start to insidiously tighten their grasp on the Ministry of Magic. Lucius was called on to add his fortune in the form of bids and graft to help in the efforts to over throw the ministry and land their puppet in the top job.

As much as he hated his fortunes going to this cause, what choice did he have? You didn't politely say, 'no thank you, I don't think so' to these type of people.

Ministry idiocy was starting to over-run the school as well, in the form of Dolores Umbridge. Now there was someone he would cheerfully fillet if he had a taste for that sort of thing. What a distasteful witch a crooked Slytherin was, playing each side against the other for her own amusement.

"I've considered removing Draco and sending him to Durmstrang Institute, but his mother won't hear of her 'baby boy'," Lucius mimicked a pathetic female voice, "being so far away," he finished, scowling.

Severus looked up from his drink. "Does she have no concept that her 'baby boy' is now fifteen and carrying on twin liaisons with Miss Parkinson and Mr. Crabbe?"

Lucius' scowl deepened. "No," he spat, "the witch is completely delusional. In her feeble mind he is an unblemished little cherub." Lucius smiled, "And I'll bet he's playing them against each other as well."

Severus saluted with his drink. "The quintessential Slytherin."

What followed was two years of complete madness, Lucius remembered being happy to hear that Miss Granger of all people had led the gorgon into the forest to be dealt with by the Centaurs.

However, when he met Miss Granger once more, in the department of Mysteries, he saw loathing in her eyes as she looked at him. He faltered in his mission, but he was trapped again, the mad witch was beside him. He'd wanted to tell her she was wrong, that he wasn't the monster she saw… the image of her disgusted face followed him to prison.

Lucius spent the next year in Azkaban, wondering and waiting for it all to end. All the good thoughts—as sparse as they were—were now gone. Misery was the order of the day, and he knew nothing of the outside world.

Any thoughts he had of any hope were gone. The spluttering spark inside him finally guttered. There was no hope, only misery and there was no justice, only fools who didn't understand.

xox

When he'd served his time, Lucius Malfoy wasn't certain he wanted to go home, couldn't he simply run. He'd missed the year Severus finally got the job he wanted, and found out that it was too late to teach Harry Potter and his friends anything, because there had been so much propaganda that none of them trusted him to teach them.

It seemed like an age before Lucius caught up with Severus, but at the time they were all sitting at his dining room table, listening to the ravings of a madman. At least it was official; Voldemort was as loopy as they come, an out and out monster. The monster had taken his wand, snapped it while the mad bitch cackled her hideous laugh in his ear.

At least Severus had been able to get Draco out of Hogwarts before the lockdown, and his best friend was now headmaster, but he didn't see him anymore. Time started to have no meaning, everything blended, and life took another downward spiral and nothing but liquor would settle him.

At this point in time Lucius Malfoy figured that he'd descended into a form of drunken stupor, where everything is so surreal that it no longer bore any resemblance to reality. He caught himself thinking dangerous thinks, and not caring anymore. Perhaps he wanted to be dead, because he certainly didn't wish to keep living like this.

That was when the thoughts started to overpower his feeble remaining logic. How much longer must I endure this filth in my home? Is this my home anymore... Was it ever? He poured another tumbler of whisky from the bottle in front of him. Look at them, her... she truly is mad, look what she's just done to her own sister. His eyes panned slowly down to the sickening spectacle on one of his best rugs.

I want no part of this; this horror is not what I wanted... this is pure twisted evil. They move in takeover and then use the owners for their perverted little pleasures. Lucius interrupted his thoughts to glance up at the impressive portrait over the mantle, his cruel excuse for a father, coolly taking in the scene. Bastard! Lucius seethed internally. He wanted to yell that from the rooftops, run from this place and never come back. He did this to me; it was men like him who encouraged this monster. I'm glad he's dead, yet the terror continues and I'm still a pawn in this perverse little game.

A slightly abstract thought entered his head. Had he not been drunk he may not have wondered about it. Why did they take Narcissa first, it's usually the other way round. Take the stronger one's first… have I really sank that low?

Looking to the mess in front of him, he considered. She was my wife, but I didn't want her… didn't love her, she lies deformed and expired and I feel nothing. She bore my son, that should count for something... yet all I can think is to thank every deity I know that he isn't here to see this. I abhor this emptiness.

Lucius swallowed the remainder of his whisky in a gulp, and without thinking rose unsteadily. "Lussiusss, you look a little upssset. You don't object to dear Bella'ss play-toy do you?" The voice sent shivers up and down his spine.

His response was conditioned, "No, my lord," but he abruptly realised he'd been too casual in his answer. Close your mind, close your mind... push the falsehoods to the front. Severus says he only wants to see blind obedience. The helpless blond aristocrat felt the invasive spike of Voldemort's mind entering his. The madman's uncaring form of Legilimency cracked into Lucius' head like a sledgehammer, driving him to his knees. Unfortunately a side-effect of being drunk enough to block out the pain, means you're unable to protect yourself from the other forms of terror.

"I sssee, Lusssiusss." His tone was definitive. "You disssapoint me, you don't ssurprisse me." Then the pain hit. "Crucio!"

It always amazed Lucius how the bastard could never manage to speak without the hiss, but could enunciate this curse perfectly. It was the last thought Lucius Malfoy had before he felt like his blood was boiling in his veins.

xox

Consciousness drifted back in slowly, the pain pushing against it made the experience even more acute. What's that noise? I must be hallucinating, don't move, it hurts to move. Shit, it hurts not to move… Where am I?

There was one small window high on the wall, and the full moon suddenly decided to drift from behind the clouds to taunt him further. With a sinking feeling, Lucius realised he was caged, now at least an official captive in his own house. Yet the quiet, what he now realised was sobbing continued. Painfully attempting to get to his knees another tremor hit his nervous system, causing him to crash back to the floor with a cry.

The sobbing abruptly ceased, and turned into panicked shallow breathing at his expression of pain, then a feeble, frightened little female voice tried to speak. "Who are you?"

Lucius was momentarily unable to answer. The voice sounded again. "Please, can you come to me? I'm frightened to die alone." He heard her plead, as a chain rattled against the wall.

Out of the blue realisation hit him. Miss Granger, I forgot she'd been captured, how could you forget her? Oh Lucius, you truly are a monster.

The whole last few months were lost, the fear and horror just continually playing through his constantly inebriated mind.

Through gritted teeth, Lucius managed a sentence. "So am I, Miss Granger." He couldn't tell you why he admitted it, he'd never said it to anyone, yet he'd lived his life in fear. "I'm sorry," he whispered, and painfully dragged himself towards the sound of her now raw, raspy breathing.

"Why are you sorry?" It was only a small voice, half dazed no doubt, and terribly rough.

He finally reached her and fell down exhausted by his effort. "This is not what I wanted. This was never what I wanted," he groaned. All his fight was finally gone. His words came at a high price, a throb of excruciating sensation pulsing through him with each section of his admission. "I'm a broken man, Miss Granger; I can't deal with this any longer. I'm laying here on the stone floor of my own dungeons, and in their eyes I'm in the same category as you now, merely prey for their perverted games." There was a break in his voice, and he stopped talking, it just hurt too much.

Unsurprising the young woman started sobbing weakly once more. "I'm sorry, my dear, but if I'm not allowed to be drunk then I need to be brutal to fight the desolation." As gently as he could his shaking, burning, and useless hands gathered her into his arms. She was chained to the wall like an animal, her brilliant brain now only capable of plaintive whimpers. I wonder how long she's been here? The smell is overpowering.

Lucius had not been at the Manor when they had arrived with her, he'd been dragged off to do something he couldn't even recall. It would have been over a week maybe. I can't even think what day it is… let alone how many days ago something happened. I wonder if anyone's thought to feed her in all that time? His disjointed thoughts were punctuated by more aftershocks of his punishment for the disgust and loathing he could no longer hide. He lay there and grit his teeth as each one hit so he wouldn't alarm her further.

This intelligent and strong young witch, she held such promise. An image of her at the Yule Ball flitted through his head and he felt a shuddering sob he refused to allow out building deep within him. She's so broken and resting her head on my chest for comfort, no one has ever looked to me for comfort.

He tried to see her, the moon obligingly showed its pale face once more, and taking possibly he's only opportunity the desperate man raised his head and their eyes met. Exhausted, hollow blood shot amber -flecked chocolate, gazed deeply into haunted sorrowful iron-grey, and he was shocked to see a full grown woman looking back at him, she was no longer the child.

From deep within them both something changed and magic flared. They were both covered in their own blood, and perhaps an accidental touch on broken skin had stirred it into life. Whatever it was, an understanding, a trust and something undefined passed between them.

She was no longer just another witch, she never really had been. She was the one he would protect, stab at the heart of hell for. He would not rest until this extraordinary young woman lay safe and far away from here. "Never mind Hermione, lay with me until the end," he brought a shaking hand up to cradle her head.

Her voice was resigned to her fate. She'd given up, swallowing thickly she murmured, "Yes, Lucius." Lucius wasn't certain after that if the young woman slept on his chest, or had finally given in and was unconscious.

Never the less in a moment of complete desperation, against all the odds she'd trusted him, if only he could get them out of here. Lucius Malfoy suddenly felt less willing to resign himself to the horror and death that awaited them. No one had ever placed their trust in him like this before, and she deserved much better than this. This one spark of hope in his broken soul, spurred a thought. He couldn't bring himself to do it just for him, but for her, her act of blind desperate trust meant everything.

xox

When Lucius heard them coming, some undefined amount of time later, he drew Hermione tighter to him in the darkness. The only thought circling his addled brain, was how right she felt against him. But why, why would I think that? He knew he'd never be able to fathom that now, not in his present condition.

Then it hit him through the fog of his thought processes, a solution to the problem. When they open the door I can call an elf. What do I have to lose? If it fails we're dead anyway.

Years ago, with nothing better to do. The master of the estate had taught himself to communicate non-verbally with some of his elves. Lucius was never more thankful for this accomplishment than at this moment.

Seeing a lit wand approaching, and hearing the titter of his mad sister-in-law's demented cackle, he heard a key in the lock, and then a creak, but when he tried to concentrate another tremor hit him.

He ground his teeth together in agony and despair and he startled when he felt it, magic rise up and meld with his from the woman in his arms, holding her tighter he tried again. Searly come to me immediately, as quiet as you can, stay in the shadows.

He almost cried in relief when he heard. How can Searly help, Master?

Lucius acted quickly they were only inches away from grabbing them. Her manacle; release her, he felt Hermione's hand fall free, and heard her plaintive groan. The Death Eaters heard it too but didn't know the significance of it, although another wand tip lit in enquiry, and he felt a hand trying to close on his ankle. He had to hurry, kicking his would be tormentor away, he commanded the elf. Both of us to the French estate now, he ordered silently.