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Weapon (Possession Chapter LXVIII)
Chapter XVII - I Will Not Save Them
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Narcissa sat quietly as she waited. She had learnt early that the patience was the only way to deal with the man she was waiting for. Eventually he finished with his current client and ushered them politely out the door, closing it gently.

Silver eyes turned towards her. "The answer is no."

"But..." She felt her eyes widen at the immediate rejection, tears gathering... He was her last hope.

"I warned you when you married him, you would not be enough. I cannot save him."

"You can!"

Ollivander smiled but it was not comforting. "I will not save him," he altered his words, before he locked the door and flipped the sign, knowing she would argue the point and wanting privacy for that.

"Why not? Please, Master!" Narcissa begged.

"I warned you when you married him, child that he would not become the man you saw, the man you hoped he would be. The arrogance was too strong within him even then."

"Arrogance?" She questioned. "Then what of the Dark Lord's arrogance?"

"I told you then that he would have two paths," Ollivander continued, ignoring her question, "and that only one path would allow life. One, he could remain loyal, continuing to obey the Dark Lord, or two, he could try what he did and be crushed utterly."

"He could have won."

"He was never going to win. Look!" Ollivander pointed to the ceiling.

Pale green eyes looked towards the ceiling before they widened. "That's not possible."

He ushered her into the back of the store, ignoring the shadow as it flowed along the ceiling following them into the well lit room where it took up a position in a corner. This was his work room, his retreat and it was shielded. It was shielded beyond anything the Ministry, or even the Dark Lord could penetrate. It was completely private. But such a place was of necessity for a being such as himself.

"It was only a matter of time."

"The Dark Lord controls them?"

"No, they belong to someone else."

Narcissa sniffed, fighting back the tears. "Please, master, my son?"

Ollivander didn't miss the slight stir from the shadow at her question. He knew what it meant. "I could save your husband more easily that I could save your son."

"He's just a boy."

"The moment he chose to fight he became a man."

"His Father forced him!"

"It doesn't matter! 'There is no right and wrong, there is only power and the will to use it.' That is what the Dark Lord believes, that is what your husband believes and that is what your son believes," Ollivander told her. "You and I both know there is both right and wrong and that every individual must choose."

Narcissa backed up eyes wide and unconsciously she prepared to fight. "They've got you," she whispered, frightened.

Silver eyes clouded in confusion before he understood. "No. They know the rules of the game better than anyone."

"Then why haven't you driven it out?" She hissed, pointing at the shadow.

"Because it has done nothing and it will do nothing. It is just watching. It has said nothing. And if I drive it out, it will just return."

"But their Master knows everything."

"True, but that has never been a problem for me."

As Narcissa continued to gather herself he narrowed his eyes, gathering his own power in a flash, suppressing the sigh that he was forced to do this. She had been warned when she married him... she had been warned when bearing his child but it seemed her human side had dominated her actions then and continued even now. Silver eyes glowed dangerously. "Do not presume to fight me, child, you are only a halfling and cannot hope to win against me." It was arrogant but it was a statement of fact.

She was beyond listening and launched herself at him, embracing her tenshi heritage as she shed her human form to attack.

Ollivander sighed at her movement, releasing the charms that held the illusion of his human form. He didn't miss the small start from the shadow watching in the corner. It appeared there were things even they did not know.

It was not a battle, it was not a fight, it wasn't even a skirmish. Despite the fact that he was shorter than her as a pure-blood tenshi he was infinitely stronger and faster than her.

He caught both wrists in one hand and drove down, sending her to her knees. The other grasped her throat, forcing her to look at him. Silver wings, an exact mix of white and black flared around him as he glared at her.

"I can save neither your son nor husband, and even if I could I have no desire to save the arrogant man you have defiled yourself with," he hissed. "You were warned when you married that this could happen. You would have been better to let him go for with his arrogance he was always doomed. He was neither powerful enough nor intelligent enough to stand against the Dark Lord and his only hope lay in servitude. You should have kept him loyal. As for your son...

"You are bad enough as a halfling child but you at least know your heritage. There are some species that should not mix. Tenshi and humans are cross fertile true, but we live in different worlds and it has come to this because you have chosen neither and now you think to save your son by bringing him into our world..?

"He is a quarterling who knows nothing. He inherited all his father's arrogance without even a medicorum of intelligence or caution to counter it. You have told him nothing because you could tell him nothing for he has not the power to stand with us. Can he even transform?"

Narcissa tried to breathe, tried to struggle but Ollivander tightened his grip, his inhuman eyes caring nothing for her attempts as he continued.

"Of course he can't," he answered his own question. "I would have sensed his potential in an instant if he had that ability. His human blood is too strong and he has no choice but to be human.

"He may not yet be of age but he chose to attack, he chose to fight and now he must face the consequences. You cannot save him and I have no desire to even attempt it for someone as worthless as him.

"You have one chance," he added, releasing her wrists as her arms went weak and ripped at her sleeve, revealing the Dark Mark burned into the white skin of her arm. "One chance only to save yourself," he continued fixing his eyes on the Mark. "That is a contract. That is a magical binding contract that cannot be broken..."

"...that is slavery..." she rasped.

Ollivander smiled but there was nothing comforting or gentle there. "That is what you agreed to," he said relentlessly, "and that is your only hope of salvation. If you want to live you must go to him and you must swear your absolute allegiance and even then I doubt that will be enough." He reached out to grasp one of her halfling wings, small and white. Viciously he pulled at it and she cried out, the sound strangled by his remorseless grip on her throat.

"If you want to survive child, you must show him your true self, that self you have not even shown your husband or son. He may not spare you, but this is the only thing which will entice him to even consider it.

"And once that is done, you will need to prove your loyalty and for that you must be prepared to sacrifice whatever it takes. I'd suggest you take your son in chains to him."

"...no..."

"Your child is doomed. I do not know exactly the full extent of his actions but I do know I could more easily save your husband than your brat." He pulled again on one wing in punishment as she tried to shake her head, this time not holding back his strength and it was only because he was muffling her voice that the entire alley did not hear, as with a stray of blood and feathers he ripped it free.

Ollivander released her and Narcissa fell to the ground moaning in pain as her tenshi heritage took over, healing the wound. Her wing would grow back in time... that was the nature of a tenshi, a pure energy being to be able to reform themselves as they wished... Because of her human blood she couldn't do it immediately, she had to wait for her body to gather the energy but it could be done but unlike him, her wings would always be white, no matter her intentions. There was a flash as Ollivander destroyed her dismembered wing.

The tenshi resumed his human form. "Leave," he instructed quietly. "And do not come back unless you have decided to honour your word. You are a magical being, and you swore an oath in magic. If you do not honour it, you do not deserve your heritage and until you honour your word I will not help you. Accept the fact that they are gone and leave your human heritage. Do not attempt to save your son for he has angered more than the Dark Lord and is beyond help."

Narcissa gulped... "What..?" She questioned weakly.

Silver eyes looked back at her, ignoring the blood and there was almost an awed smile on his face. He gestured towards the shadow which hadn't moved. "They have an interest in him now," he said simply.

The shadow scuttled in acknowledgement before stilling, seeming to watch the halfling with a superior gaze although no eyes could be determined.

"No..." she whispered as his words registered. "No, I will not bow to his arrogance."

"For some it is not arrogance."

"For this Dark Lord it is!"

"No, it isn't. For your husband it was, to presume he could fight. For your son it was for presuming to know and for you it is, for thinking they can be saved. There is only a select few for whom it is not arrogance, for whom their actions are based off their own desire and not from the presumption that it is their due. And there are only a few who have the power to take it all. I know this because it is my job to know!"

"Lucius... Draco..."

"No."

"Yes! They should be the ones to have it all."

"And yet their presumption would cause it all to fail. Even the Dark Lord knows humility when it suits him and that is required to rule. I would have destroyed him otherwise."

"No," Narcissa said as she rose. "That they were not meant to have it all, I do not believe you. That you have not fallen pray to them," she gestured towards the shadow, "I do not believe you. And that I should again bow to the Dark Lord, I will not!" she hissed before walking back through the stacks of wands, retrieving her cloak from the hook, moving to the door and unlocking it.

"That is the arrogance you have whored yourself to," Ollivander said. "For your actions, child, your blood cannot save you," he added turning away.

She was lost, human to the end, despite the blood that could have made her more.

"Good bye, Master," Narcissa said as she drew her cloak around her, closing the door softly.

"Good-bye child. If you fight him, do not rely on your blood," Ollivander continued even though she couldn't hear. "Your son inherited your husband's arrogance but he also inherited your unthinking nature. The line of Malfoy is ended."

He looked up at the shadow, which had followed them back into his store. "You, out!" he pointed, his voice forceful. "You can come back tomorrow but for the moment I have no wish to hear your temptations. I am fully aware that I could save Lucius if I was prepared to do something for you in return but I'm not. Neither of them are worth it."

The shadow seemed to blink at being addressed so directly before it flowed down the wall and pooled in the centre of the patch of light caused by his lamp. It was small but Ollivander wasn't fooled by that. Size meant nothing to a shadow. Somehow it gave the impression of nodding to him, giving him a feeling of respect he hadn't expected before it vanished, allowing the light to vanquish it. No doubt it would report all it had heard to its Master before it returned but that couldn't be helped, and that wasn't something which bothered him. He had his job to do and if a few gifted wizards learnt the truth of his existence, that was of little consequence. They could know... they just could not act.

Ollivander closed silver eyes as he sat down. Narcissa was foolish, she had always been, her blindness made her stupid. She thought that her tenshi heritage gave her the right to choose, forgetting that there were others...

Wait...

Did she forget? Or did she just not know? It was possible that she did not know that there were other tenshi on earth since very few made themselves known... But it did not give her the right to chose or to believe she was anything more than human. It gave her no rights. Her mother should have taught her that... Apparently not though.

Halfling or not, her rarity as a tenshi had made it difficult, her stupidity had made it easy. So few of them chose to live on this plane that he did not like to condemn any... not even a halfling.

"But sometimes there is no choice."

The voice was not his own and Ollivander turned in time to see another tenshi hovering there, jet black wings spread magnificently. They were in their full magical form, a being of pure energy but he had never seen this one before.

Before he could ask, before he could consider anything about the differences in feeling he was receiving between the colour of their wings and the feel of their power, the tenshi nodded to him and vanished, gone without so much as a whisper of air.

The encounter was as disturbing as it was calming. He knew all the tenshi on this world. It was his job to know, just as it was his job to watch the humans, the wizards, watch for those who possessed enough magic and the will to effect the magic plane, their world, watch them and determine the danger and if necessary act. That was why they could know but they could not be allowed to act.

Narcissa was not suited for their world, nor was she suited for the human world and she made no attempt to embrace either. Her husband was an arrogant fool and the Dark Lord would make short work of him, if he hadn't already and her son was no better, although his end promised to be messy.

It was for the best though. Their destruction would benefit both species as such arrogance was not becoming to those for whom it was not due and at the moment, there were only three humans who could claim everything as their right because there were only three who he had seen that were potential danger to his people if they so chose to be.

Dumbledore, Riddle and Potter.

One who acted in the attempt to protect it all but who failed to protect the individuals. He knew of the magic realm but was prepared to let it be. The danger with him had passed.

One who was fierce in his determination to rule it all but who turn from that path with a glance from the one he chose. He wanted this world more than the next. The danger with him might yet rekindle but not for years.

And one who had the right and the power to take it all but who knew the worthlessness of the whole. He could be a problem but for the moment was too tied up with the matters at hand to threaten them. He would bear watching though, for all his life, he would bear watching.

The final battle lay with them. Narcissa could not change that and if she tried, all three would show her how powerless she truly was.

"Pray for mercy, my child, pray for mercy."

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