I.
The West Wing.
"One born of the house of serpents, one born of common blood… Their union shall destroy the mountains of man… Through the ties that bind them… Their child's eyes will turn both light and dark to sand…"
The words were strangled, spoken out of a throat disfigured with burns that were knotted like vines. In the west wing of Malfoy manor, Cassandra Dodonis was speaking her first prophecy, and her last.
Oil lanterns crackled on the arching walls of the ancient manor estate. They hung in ornate silver cases, casting shadows of the three figures moving around what was left of Cassandra; two men in heavy dark robes and one house elf dressed in a neatly trimmed emerald tea-towel.
"Take it. Do it now." A low voice, sharp and almost impatient. The man speaking was the only one facing away from the spectacle. His long silver hair fell in front of his eyes and for a moment his expression imperceptibly tightened. He gripped his cane and resisted the urge to tap it anxiously on the hard wooden floor. Lucius Malfoy knew full well that displaying weakness, even in present company, was compromising.
A wand was drawn and a filigree string of silver light came from Cassandra's parted mouth as she moaned feverishly. It was drawn carefully, gently, into a small potion bottle where it floated like a cloud encased in glass. Immediately, Severus Snape muttered a quick spell to seal it and glanced back at Lucius apprehensively.
"The girl cannot be healed. " His voice had its usual even tone but beneath that there was finality. Loose ends must always be tied and Lucius' emotions were what made him dangerous, unable to reason, unable to control himself. He had always been monitored carefully by the Dark Lord for this very reason. Yet the man standing in front of Snape was unreadable as he stared into the crackling flames of the fireplace.
"Thank you Severus," Lucius' sneered. "For stating the obvious." He turned sharply as Cassandra began whispering deliriously, her words jumbled together as she squeezed her eyes shut. Both men paused for a second as if they were unsure of what to do next.
"Her prophecy was clear. That is, on who half of that prophecy is referring to. You know better than I do what that means… What could happen if Draco follows in your footsteps…" Lucius was staring at the same flicker of flame that danced in the sconce behind Cassandra. He could feel his eyes beginning to water and realised he hadn't blinked for at least a minute but he couldn't look away, he couldn't waver. Not now. Damn Narcissa for syphoning his potion cabinet of calming draught.
"The dark lord will return, Lucius, and when he does he will attack your mind to find where your loyalties lie." Snape's eyes glittered as he pocketed the prophecy. "I wonder what he will find… And what would be left of you to watch the end of the world." It was a thinly veiled insult thrown to catch Lucius off guard. When Voldemort had 'tested' his followers, Lucius had been particularly susceptible to Legilimency. The Dark Lord would conduct these tests at a whim and Snape could still remember Lucius' sobs as he held back his pleas for mercy. The pleas always made it worse. Snape was sure that the Dark Lord would be far more inventive with his methods if he found out they had hidden the prophecy from him.
"Take your leave. I must heal myself." Lucius snapped. He had become painfully aware of the long S shaped burn that snaked up his forearm. He could feel it sticking to the inside of his robe. The blackened skin wouldn't respond to the thick orange burn-paste and Lucius cursed himself for his lack of foresight.
"...Amongst other matters." His eyes drifted to Cassandra as she tossed feverishly, lost and rocked by endless waves in some ocean inside her own mind. Lost at sea as she burned alive. Lucius thought this for a moment, then realised it was a foolish notion. The pain from his arm coiled around his chest, in his lungs. Lucius hadn't realised before, but Cassandra's legs were almost gone. The flames had melted her skin into an unrecognisable mass of red sores and weeping flesh.
All she feels is agony, Lucius thought, and caught his breath. Snape was still as he watched him. Lucius wondered if he was entertaining the idea of offering his help. The next, a brusque expression came over him and he gathered his robe around him and swept to the door.
"...Very well. We'll reconvene the next waxing moon." He paused for a moment, as if he wanted to say something more, then disappeared with a small crack. The moment he disapparated, the house elf's silent sobs became soft whimpers, then loud wrenching cries.
"M-master…" The elf sobbed, "Posey didn't mean to let the girl do it- Posey tried to stop her m-master-" she was frantically wringing her hands behind her back as she stuttered the apology. Lucius Malfoy's cold blue eyes looked her up and down with unconcealed disgust.
"I am not concerned with the failings of a house elf." He spat out the last two words and Posey moaned in despair, tears streaming down her face and over her long nose. "For too long I have had faith in you. For too long I have trusted animals with tasks… beyond their mental capacity. For too long I have tolerated your pathetic snivelling." He aimed a swift kick to Posey's side and she yelped as his foot connected with her ribs, sending her flying across the room. With a snap, his wand was taken from his walking stick, the point trained on the house elf's throat.
"Crucio." Posey's squeals drowned out Cassandra's voice; the feeling was almost blissful. Lucius shifted in pain as the skin on his wand arm began to stretch and tear around the burn. Here we are, he thought. In agony together. After a few minutes of twitching and screaming, Lucius realised he was exhausted. It was time to finish this. A flash of green light erupted from his wand and the house elf lay motionless on the cold stone floor.
He turned to the plush daybed that had been hand stitched with the emerald green and silver of the Malfoy family crest. It was soaked with Cassandra's blood. Lucius finally forced himself to look at her and realised with a growing sense of unease that she had been watching him. Both eyes had glazed over into a milky white from the flames; tracks of blood ran down her face, surely there could be no way…
Yet there she was. It was as if she was staring through him, behind him. From behind the twisted oak door down the hallway, there came the faint sound of a baby crying.
"...born of the house of serpents… born of the house of serpents…" Her voice was desperate. Somehow, she knew Lucius was there. Her whispers sounded like a plea.
"Avada Kedavra." Lucius uttered the words softly, and with a blinding flash of light, Cassandra lay motionless. He took a deep breath and walked to the pile of charred flesh that had once been the last descendent of the greatest seer in history. With a small motion he reached for a lock of her curled auburn hair. It had been the only part of her body untouched by the fire.
The lock of hair slipped between his fingers, back onto the velvet. As Lucius turned and strode out of the room, the world begane to shimmer around him. The events of that night played before his eyes in sickening technicolour, flourishing to a crescendo of blood and screams. He emptied the contents of his stomach on the floor.
"I wonder what will happen next." A woman with black hair piled high was observing the scene from a delicately painted background of flowers. She spoke quietly, to nobody in particular. The dark haired woman rocked the small bundle that was oil painted in her arms as she watched Lucius Malfoy stagger away.
"Shh." She hushed her silent baby, rocking it back and forth. "Shh."