Posted on: 25/03/2014 at 19:53 UTC/GMT/Zulu.
AN: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, editorofthequibbler, alexma, Crapes and Lamia of the Dark. Lamia I will go back and take a closer look to see if I can spot and eliminate some of those fiendish typos. Thank you for pointing them out. However this will have to wait until May as I'm going to be very busy prepping for and then participating in Camp NaNoWriMo.
Thoughts are in italics without speech marks.
The next chapter will be up on or by the 05/04/2014.
The Marriage Curse
Allegiance
"Severus wait." A cultured voice behind him caused the black robed wizard to pause.
"Lucius." He acknowledged when the blonde aristocrat caught up with him.
He strode off again forcing Lucius to run a few steps to catch up.
"I'd rather we had this discussion somewhere private if you don't mind." He said as the blonde opened his mouth.
"Of course." Lucius said.
They walked in silence up to the third floor and into the west wing. Severus ushered him into an empty classroom and shut and locked the door behind them. Then he set up wards that would allow them to talk without being heard from the corridor. Two more spells flipped the portraits and made sure they couldn't hear them either.
"We can speak safely now. What do you want Lucius?" Severus asked.
He leaned back against the wall and eyed the suddenly nervous looking aristocrat. Lucius ran his hand through his hair before speaking.
"The matter is somewhat delicate. It would be very dangerous if word of this conversation reached the wrong ears. I will require a wand oath that you won't tell anyone else what we speak about today without my permission." Lucius said.
Severus was intrigued. He pulled his wand from his sleeve.
"I, Severus Tobias Snape, do hereby swear upon my magic and blood that I will not reveal what is spoken of here without the express permission of Lucius Abraxas Malfoy." He said.
His wand and hand glowed with a golden light for a moment.
Lucius relaxed. "Thank you friend."
Then he drew his wand and repeated Severus' earlier oath. That made his Severus' eyebrows fly up.
"Now we can speak freely." Lucius said as he stowed his wand back in his cane.
"Go on. You've intrigued me now." Severus said.
"For some time now I've been wondering about the wisdom of following the Dark Lord. He is no longer rational or sane. He has become mad and I'm no longer sure if he was ever right." Lucius paused to look at Severus who remained impassive.
"I only want what's best for my family and this situation has thrown a spanner in the works. The Dark Lord will never believe that my family was accidentally tied into a group marriage containing Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter, not to mention the blood traitors and mudbloods. He'll think I'm the spy He's been looking for. He'll kill me and my family." Lucius paused and swallowed.
Severus frowned. "What do you want me to do?" He asked.
Lucius' fingers tightened on his cane. "I want to know your true loyalties first."
Severus frowned for a moment and then a mental ray slammed into Lucius' occlumency shield. He winced. Severus pushed harder and Lucius felt several probing tendrils trying to get around his shields. He held them steady. Severus failed to break through or go around his defences and withdrew.
"Impressive but are you trained in the entirety of the art? Can you be subtle?" Severus asked Lucius.
"Yes." Lucius hissed massaging his temples where a headache was starting.
"Prove it." Severus challenged and launched his mental probe at the other's mind again.
There was no evidence of the shield that had been there a few moments before. He entered Lucius' thoughts easily.
Show me a lie. Severus said.
Lucius' thoughts turned to a ministry ball they had both attended years ago. Severus remembered this evening well. The details had changed though. The colour of the walls and the guests were different. The conversations focused on the war and nothing else as he remembered. Lucius had changed their younger selves' clothing. Lucius wore Black instead of the pale blue he had been wearing in Severus' memory and instead of the black he had worn that evening he wore deep forest green robes.
It suits you better. Lucius thought.
The memory felt completely real as Severus handled it looking for discrepancies. He didn't find any. It appeared completely genuine. He withdrew from his friend's mind.
"Satisfied that I won't accidentally give your secrets away to the Dark Lord?" Lucius asked.
"Yes." Severus said. "Very well. My true loyalties lie with Albus Dumbledore."
Lucius breathed a sigh of relief and let go of his wand.
"Thank Merlin. I couldn't be sure. I thought I was walking into serious danger."
"You had a back up plan." Severus stated.
"Of course." Lucius said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a packet of something that Severus didn't recognise.
"Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder. It would have blacked out the entire room and the corridor beyond." He said. "I also have Draco's hand of glory. It gives light only to the holder." He explained.
"Ingenious. What do you want?" Severus asked.
"What I want is protection for myself and my wife and son." Lucius said. "Would Dumbledore welcome another defector and grant us his protection in return for everything I know about the Dark Lord and his plans?"
"I believe he would. He will want to know that you are sincere though and the Order will not trust you. They don't trust me." Severus said.
Lucius nodded.
"We'll speak to him immediately. I don't think this can wait." Severus said.
"I agree. So when and why did you defect?" He asked as they unwarded the room and put the portraits to rights.
"That's a long and painful tale and it can wait." Severus said.
He unlocked and opened the door. He looked back when his friend didn't follow. Lucius was standing still apparently deep in thought.
"Coming Lucius?" He asked as he strode away.
Albus was in his office with Kingsley when they entered. Kingsley nodded to them and left.
"Good morning gentlemen. Please sit down." Albus said.
"Sherbet Lemon?" He offered as they sat in the chairs in front of his desk.
They both declined.
"What can I do for you?" He asked them.
Severus would almost have sworn Albus already knew. He observed the extra bright twinkle in the blue eyes as Lucius explained that he'd doubted the wisdom of following the Dark Lord for a long time now, his family's precarious situation and asked for protection.
Albus nodded. "I believe you are completely sincere." He said.
"I will protect your family. I'm sure your information will be invaluable." He added.
Lucius smiled for the first time since entering the office. Then he placed a scroll of blank parchment on the desk and a bottle of ink and a quotes quill. He then outlined a lot of plots that Voldemort had in place and gave the names of all his financial supporters as the quill dashed frantically across the scroll recording it all. Some of this information was already known to them. A lot was not. Severus knew it wasn't all of Voldemort's plans because he never told anyone everything but it would significantly damage him.
"Thank you Mr Malfoy." Albus said when he fell silent.
The quill hopped off the parchment and lay still on the desk, the ink stoppered itself and the scroll rolled itself up.
"Lucius." He corrected as he retrieved the quill and ink and pocketed them.
Albus picked up the scroll and placed it in his desk.
"Lucius, you must call me Albus then. Now there is the matter of Draco's education. While he is safe from the initiated Death Eaters at Hogwarts he is surrounded by their children." Albus said.
Lucius nodded suddenly looking grim again.
"I was thinking of withdrawing him and hiring tutors to teach him." Lucius said.
"That is certainly one solution but I think he'll be better off surrounded by his peers." Albus said. "Does he know what you plan to do?"
"He does." Lucius said.
"Would you mind if I called him and Mr. Potter and his peers in here?" Albus asked.
Lucius looked mystified. "Alright."
"Splendid. Dobby. Tibby." Albus said.
Two elves appeared with twin pops. Dobby eyed Lucius nervously but instead of looking angry Lucius smiled wryly.
"I assumed you worked for Potter now." He said calmly.
"Harry Potter is not wanting a House Elf and Headmaster Dumbledore is paying Dobby." Dobby said quietly not looking at his former master.
Lucius noticed the way the other elf flinched at the mention of pay and smirked.
"Dobby please go to Gryffindor Tower and fetch Harry and his dorm mates, Ginny, Hermione and the Weasley twins." Albus said. "Tibby please fetch Draco Malfoy from the Slytherin Common Room and then inform Minerva that I need her here."
The elves disappeared with two loud cracks.
Albus took a Sherbet Lemon and smiled as he enjoyed it. The other two sat in silence for a while as they waited for Professor McGonagall and the teenagers.
Lucius raised an eyebrow at Severus. He sighed.
"I will tell you the story in detail later but I defected when I realised he intended to go after the Potters. At that time I realised I was following a deranged mad man." Severus said.
"Ah of course." Lucius nodded. "Miss Evans was your good friend while you were at school here. She remained so afterwards?"
"Yes." Severus said. "I promised her I would protect her son when she heard the prophecy and here we are."
Lucius nodded and Severus watch his face turn impassive as he filed the information away in his memory. No doubt for blackmail later.
Before he could say anything else the floo turned green and Minerva stepped through. She brushed the soot from her robes and nodded to them all.
They heard the sound of feet on the stairs a moment later and Draco entered the room.
"Good morning Headmaster." He said and then saw his father and Professors Snape and McGonagall. "Good morning Professors. Hello Father."
"Draco." Lucius said acknowledged.
He turned to Dumbledore. "May I ask what's going on?"
"You may." Dumbledore smiled. "Your father has told me of your situation and with your permission I would tell some others who are on their way here. They are Gryffindors and I would like to move you to Gryffindor house and put you under their protection."
Draco looked dumbstruck.
Dumbledore conjured up several more chairs. "Please sit down."
Draco and McGonagall sat. The Gryffindors clattered up the stairs chattering loudly before he could offer them a Sherbet Lemon.
The group of nine Gryffindors filed into the office and paused when they saw who was already there.
"Please sit down and let me explain the nature of this meeting." Dumbledore smiled pleasantly.
When they were all seated he explained the Malfoy's situation.
"Now the reason that I called you all here is that I have a proposition to make. I would like to transfer Mr Malfoy to the Gryffindor fifth year dorms and I would like you all to look out for him."
McGonagall nodded.
"It will take a lot of courage to do this. If you accept Gryffindor will be gaining a fine new member." She said to Draco.
"I would prefer to stay at Hogwarts." Draco said. "Can you forgive me and accept me in Gryffindor? I know we've had our differences."
Ron choked on his Sherbet Lemon. Harry's jaw dropped. The Weasley twins shrugged and pounded Ron on the back.
"Okay." They said in unison.
"It makes sense." Hermione said. "Forgive and forget."
"I can do that." Ginny chimed in.
"I think we should start over afresh." Harry said to Malfoy.
He nodded and Harry stood up and went over to Draco. He held out his hand.
"I'm Harry Potter, pleased to meet you. Call me Harry." He said.
Draco smiled and shook his hand. "Draco Malfoy. The pleasure's all mine."
"Welcome to the Lion's den little serpent." Fred smirked.
Draco smiled back.
"Good with that sorted I'll get an elf to transfer your things now." Dumbledore said to Draco.
"The news will no doubt be all over the school tomorrow." He said.
"Yes it will." Lucius said. "Now I believe we have a Fidelius Charm to cast." He said.
"That we do." Dumbledore said.
"Please escort your new house mate to Gryffindor and show him around the tower." He said to the students and smiled kindly at Draco.
He flicked his wand and the Slytherin Serpent disappeared from Draco's robes and was replaced by the Gryffindor Lion.
"Unprecedented." One of the portraits muttered.
The students left the office. Lucius stood and went over to the fireplace. He took a handful of floo powder from the mantelpiece and threw it into the fire.
"Malfoy Manor."
Please review. Constructive crit is welcome. Flames will be used to heat the Slytherin Common Room.