The Lord of Shadows Arc, Book Two: MorningStar

At long last, the beginnings of Book II. So, notes. . .well, if ya haven\'t read Book I, you\'d probably find it useful to do so. Also, read the Apocrypha too--that has the Arc Prologue, side-stories introducing some of the Original Characters, and other fun things.



Speaking of which, Anton the Hitler-Youth-Poster-boy-Vampire has had his accent dropped because it was annoying the piss outta me. But he\'s still Anton . . . Oh, the Japanese should be easy enough to figure out in context, but I\'ll translate if asked. And the Hentai Onna no Gumi (Pervert Women\'s Club) is real, though of a more Gundam Wing fandom, run by the crazy onnas, Mel and Christy [2x5=oh!]. I thought it\'d be fun to make them into a doujinshi mafia or something. . .heehee. . .



And the reason it took so long was the third scene, which was only recently added, when I realized why the prologue didn\'t feel complete. So, blame Ron. And Lucius.



***********************************




The Lord of Shadows Arc Book II: Morningstar

Prologue: A priest, a rabbi and a . . .



It was like the beginning of one of those jokes without a punch line your drunk cousin would start telling at a family reunion:




A priest, a rabbi, and the rabbi\'s wife were standing outside customs at LaGuardia International Airport waiting for a couple of ex-terrorists to arrive.




The priest turned to the rabbi and said, \"Geezus-fucking-Christ, Mal, why did we agree to this again?\"




The rabbi\'s wife bit back her instinctive chiding--she knew he only got that foul-mouthed when he was very upset about something.



The rabbi, Malachi S. Gutman, smirked. \"Izzat even possible?\" he asked.



The priest thought, idly wishing for a cigarette. \"Technically, yes. If they were into that sort of thing. . .\"



\"Tony David Zabini!\" she finally snapped, gracing the terminal to the sound of authentic Brooklyn. \"Mind your tongue--people generally don\'t get your particulah type of humah!\"



\"Yes\'m. . .\" he said, suitably chastised. While he and Mal had had no problem going up against twenty to one odds back in \'Nam, he would not take on Judith Ruth Gutman. He was still sane, after all.



But he still needed a cigarette. His fingers fluttered loosely by a pocket, landing on worn rosary beads, the words automatically rising in his mind.



Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. . .



He stiffened as he caught a glimpse of platinum hair coming their way.






* * * * *



Narcissa stretched as the plane finally came to a full and complete stop. She hesitated a moment before shaking Lucius awake, reflecting on how trying the past month had been for him. Though, she mused, he looked younger now than he had in years.



\"Rise and shine, schnookums,\" she murmured playfully into his ear.



He growled as his eyes slowly opened. \"I hate that name. . .\"



\"Woke you up, didn\'t it?\" she grinned cheekily.



Lucius grimaced as he stretched, idly noting that the plane was still, and the Marshall who had been sitting across the aisle was standing up, pulling their bags down from the luggage rack.



\"That\'s one hell of a wife you\'ve got,\" the man said conversationally to Lucius, over Narcissa\'s head. \"Awake the entire flight, and still perky enough to give you grief at the end of it.\"



\"Hn\" Lucius grunted. \"Indeed. Something I will now hear about for the next twenty-four hours.\"



\"Behave!\" Narcissa chided softly, inwardly sighing over Lucius\' grumpy-bear attitude whenever he was newly woken from sleep.



\"Oh, don\'t worry,\" the Marshall said, winking. \"He\'ll fit right in around here.\"



Lucius was rather more awake and had regained much of his charm by the time they went through customs, though it was still a trying experience. He had presented his passport, the other papers, the other other papers, and when the machine had beeped, the girl had still paled, stuttered, and thrown panicked looks to the big men standing nearby with big guns. And, they soon noticed, bright golden eyes.



The rather-large men had approached, eyes glinting in the fluorescent light, and were about to. . . well, neither Lucius nor Narcissa were ever quite sure what they were about to do, because right then, the machine beeped again, and the biggest of the big men looked at its window, and growled something so softly they couldn\'t make it out. But the other men drew back, and the Big One waved them through.



With a sigh, Narcissa and Lucius passed through, crossing the linoleum floor, hoping that whomever they were supposed to meet would find them.



\"Nah-cissa Malfoy! Oh, there you are, you poor thing! You must be absolutely exhausted!\"



Only years of training kept Narcissa from openly cringing at the blaring voice that assaulted her ears. With a smile firmly in place, she turned to see a middle-aged woman in a skirt and cardigan walk up to them, trailed by two men-- one wearing a yarmulke and Muggle \"suit\", the other a stone-faced priest.



\"Hello,\" Narcissa said politely. \"You must be Mrs. Gutman.\"



\"Judith, dear, and welcome!\" Judith turned to Lucius. \"This must be your Lucius! Hello, dear.\"



\"Madam.\" Lucius inclined his head.



\"Ohhh!\" The woman leaned in close to Narcissa. \"And so well trained! Unlike some people. . .\" She turned to glare at the priest. Lucius had never thought that a stone could look abashed, but then, he\'d never thought any woman would so completely ignore him as this one had.



Judith took Narcissa by the elbow, chatting amiably, letting the men sort themselves out.



\"Oy, my wife,\" the man in the yarmulke said. \"So busy talking. . . I\'m Malachi Gutman, this here is Tony Zabini, an old friend of my family\'s.\"



\"Pleased to meet you.\" Lucius smiled as he shook their hands. \"Zabini? Have you got any relations in Britain?\"



The priest smirked. \"Yes, my cousin Blaise is at Hogwarts. I believe he knows your son.\"



\"Yes, indeed, they\'re quite close. But I never knew there were any clergy in the Zabini family.\" .



\"Oh, that.\" Tony gave a low chuckle. \"I\'m a Jesuit, so they count me as the family exorcist, if anything. The priest bit gets forgotten.\"



\"Ah.\" Lucius nodded, looking around as they walked, now glad that the Marshall had insisted they wear \"Muggle\" clothing before flying-- his dress robes would really not have fit in at all.



Eventually they had made their way out to the Gutman\'s car. Lucius had never travelled by any type of Muggle transportation device--aside form the plane he\'d recently left-- and he had never lowered himself to riding that horrible thing called the Knight Bus, so he was rather surprised when it was Judith who placed herself in control of the enormous vehicle, the men sitting in the back.



On the way out, Mal told Lucius a bit about himself-- a rabbi, war veteran, with a doctorate from Brandeis in Kabbalistic Practice, specializing in Gematriac Number Theory.



\"And how come you are here today to meet us?” Lucius asked Tony when they had settled into the seats in the van.



The priest sighed, rolling down a side window as he lit up his cigarette.



\"Call it. . . professional curiosity. I happen to teach at the school next door to where you\'ll be living, so there\'s professional concern for my students. Then there\'s the fact that I\'m the exorcist for the Archdiocese of New York City, and considering what I\'ve heard of your sudden conversion, I\'m interested in the particulars.\"



Lucius nodded. \"What have you heard, exactly? I was under the impression that our story was classified.\"



\"Oh, it is, don\'t worry. But between myself and Mal here, we\'ve got every clearance possible in the Federal government. \'S why he\'s your landlord.\" Tony took another drag on his cigarette. \"As for what we\'ve heard. . . we were told that your son, Draco, shot a burning arrow through yourself and your wife, thus. . .curing you of a strange type of Imperius.. Being in the business of curing evil, I\'d like to know more.\"



Lucius nodded, glancing up to where Narcissa sat in the front passenger seat before answering. \"That\'s what happened, actually. Our son shot us with an arrow made of fire, and then, it was as if. . .a veil was lifted in front of our eyes, or. . .a fog was taken away from our minds and hearts and we. . . understood. It was. . . difficult, all of what we’d done - I\'d done in the past years, we suddenly saw and realized and ... It\'s still difficult, but my son and others have been very helpful, despite our exile.\"



\"So,\" Tony seemed to chew the cigarette, \"where\'d your son get that arrow? He make it himself?\"



\"No.\" Lucius shook his head before stopping himself, not sure if he should reveal everything to the priest yet. He scowled for a moment, his intuition prodding him to continue, his reason a little more wary. And then there was Not-Severus, who seemed to be silently agreeing. Lucius still wasn\'t quite comfortable with That One, so it was easier to think of him as \"Not-Severus\", rather than who He Was. He sighed.



\"Draco said he\'d received it as a gift from the angels Raphael and Michael, after his bonding to Harry.\"



Tony choked back a laugh. \"Is that right?! Well, that certainly explains a lot. . .waitaminite. . .bonding ceremony with angels?\" The priest got a sharp look in his eyes. \"He\'s got himself a coven, doesn\'t he?\"



Lucius stifled a gasp-- the Coven was considered a Government secret in Britain, and the Government only knew about it because it was part of his defence. He knew that it had never been explicitly mentioned to any American official, and he also knew that none of the Death Eaters had even theorised that a Coven might result from his son\'s bonding.



\"I\'ll take that as a yes,\" the priest murmured. \"Don\'t worry though, I won\'t go telling anyone anything. Seal of Confessional and all that. . .\"



\"I\'m not in confession. . .\"



\"A technicality. I\'ve got a little stole on underneath this jacket--a habit of being an exorcist-- so it counts if we both agree that it should.\"



Lucius nodded, smiling wryly in understanding.



\"So, could I further extrapolate that you are now a member of that Coven, and that\'s why you\'re not back in Britain, facing the Dementors?\"



Lucius ground his teeth. He\'d known that the members of the Society of Jesus were known for their sharp minds, but this was intolerable!



\"Yes again,\" Tony smirked. \"I\'m battin\' a thousand today. Let me try a few more. . . you probably weren\'t at the bonding itself, so your place must have been originally that of an angel\'s, wasn\'t it?\"



Lucius gave up with a resigned sigh. \"Yes, it was.\" You overly-smart bastard.



The rest of the trip wasn\'t much better for Lucius, although Father Tony seemed to be having fun.



Up front, Narcissa clutched the armrest tightly as Judith took another turn. She found it amazing that the woman could keep such control over the vehicle while keeping up an unending stream of chatter of the idle, open, and non-threatening kind. The woman obviously did this sort of thing daily. But despite the horrid nasal accent and intimidating driving, Narcissa found it warm and welcoming. And after the past month . . .



The first few days after their \"conversion\" were still a blur. There had been meetings with solicitors and diplomats, Aurors and ministry officials. In the end, Dumbledore and their son-in-law had managed to convince the Minister to postpone their exile one month--until the end of the school term. Then Lucius got absorbed in organising the housewarming party for the newly renovated Godric\'s Hollow, while she worked on officially transferring most of their holdings and assets to Draco. And of course, there was getting to know their new extended family--meaning several dinners at the Burrow which were . . . interesting, to say the least.



She and Molly had finally taken each other aside for a long talk. She had thought it would be about Harry, but it ended with Narcissa bawling into the sturdy woman\'s shoulder, her hot tears spilling out her horrified regret and self-loathing.



Judith noticed her pensive frown.



\"So you\'re thinking you\'re a horrible mother, right?\"



Narcissa blinked, and gave a small nod. \"When I think of what I was planning for our little boy . . .\"



The other woman nodded sagely. \"True. But, you must have done something right, right? I mean, you\'re the ones who raised him, and when it counted most, he chose the right path, despite you. And then, he was able to turn around and bring you over. If that\'s not a good kid, I don\'t know what is. And good kids don\'t come outta nowhere!\"



\"Molly Weasley said much the same thing. . .\" Narcissa smiled wanly.



\"She sounds smart,\" Judith replied.



\"True,\" Narcissa acceded, lips twitching with the irony. \"She\'s the personification of the Indomitable British Woman.\"



Judith thought this over as she took another harrowing turn.



\"I take it she\'s a rather new friend of yours?\"



\"Yes, our son-in-law is an orphan, and Molly took him under her wing as soon as they first met, five years ago. It seemed only appropriate that we should have a few dinners with the family before we left.\"



\"What\'s he like, your son-in-law?\"



Narcissa smiled gently. \"He\'s a wonderful match for a Malfoy,\" she said with a touch of pride.



* * *



Ron moaned in his sleep, tendrils of pain winding their way through his bones. Deep in his nightmare, he couldn\'t note the trembling of his limbs, or the sheen of sweat glistening on his brow. He couldn\'t realize how his teeth started chattering, how his body temperature fluctuated wildly, or how his fists spasmodically clenched and unclenched.



But Poppy did, and she sighed regretfully as she reached for yet another syringe. But she didn\'t even have a chance to lean down to her patient before he sat up in his bed, scrambling back and whimpering.



\"Shh, shh,\" she said soothingly. \"It\'s alright, Mr. Weasley. Look at me. . .\" she held herself steady as his wild eyes sought her out.



\"Madam Pomfrey?\" He whispered, then half collapsed as memory came rushing back, curling in on himself as the pain reasserted itself. \"How long this time?\"



She frowned. \"A little over four hours. Better by four minutes than last time. . .\"



He gave a dry, wheezing chuckle. \"I suppose that counts as progress. I was hoping for four fifteen this time, though.\"



\"Don\'t even think of pushing yourself, Ronald Weasley!\" She chided gently. \"I don\'t care that you\'re a Gryffindor, you\'ll let this happen at it\'s own pace.\"



\"Yes, Ma\'am.\" He grimaced as another wave of trembling and nausea overtook him. \"I suppose I should take my medicine again. . .\" He held out a trembling arm, covered in prick marks and bruising. There would be no healing of these wounds until he could go for six hours at a time.



Poppy gently took the arm, uttered a charm for a tourniquet, found a vein, and plunged the needle in. Job done, she massaged the skin as the trembling died down, and the young man\'s breathing evened out. She wasn\'t surprised to see tears, as he whispered the same words he\'d been whispering every night.



\"I just . . . wish I were stronger. . .\"



Poppy set his arm down as he slipped back down into sleep, then went to go make an entry on her report for the Headmaster.



* * *



Dumbledore sat in the Great Hall, the echoing sounds of the performance the previous week still lingering in his ears. It was a shame all the other groups had forfeited due to injury, but the one group left had done quite well, which had not been a surprise to the Headmaster. What had been surprising, though, was Harry\'s entire demeanour. It seemed as if Harry, much as he claimed to dislike the stage, used it as a place to vent all his aggression. Why else would the boy have thrown down the gauntlet at Voldemort like that, in front of all those officials and reporters?



Dumbledore sat back, his eyes closed, and listed to the echoes.



Here we are, we\'re the Princes of the Universe!



Obviously Draco\'s choice, that one. But a good opener . . .



They\'ll want you to be Jesus

They\'ll go down on one knee

But they\'ll want their money back

If you\'re alive at thirty-three. . .



They had all been surprised when Harry had started singing that, lips curling into a cruel smirk as his eyes, even in the bright lights, dilated into deep, dark pools.



Every little thing she does is magic, everything she does just turns me on. . .



And despite the common knowledge that Harry and Draco were very permanently together, they had still managed to make nearly all the young men jealous when they\'d started flirting with the girls.



Don\'t believe in Voldy

His type like a curse

Instant karma\'s gonna get him

If I don\'t get him first!



Colin had taken many pictures, and had managed to catch the calm, calculating look Harry wore as he tossed out that bit to the stunned reporters. It seemed Harry was tired of being on the defensive.



You remind me of the babe. . .the babe with the power . . . the power of Voodoo. . .



I believe in love. . .



The change in Harry had been so startling as he\'d stalked through the Great Hall, radiating charisma and not a little sex-appeal. Even though it was well known that he was taken, it hadn\'t taken much to have most of the girls and a few of the boys in the audience drooling. Dumbledore chuckled at the memory of poor Remus\'s face when he\'d realized that \"little Harry\" had indeed grown up. Neither Severus nor Lucius were about to let him off the hook for his expression of mixed horror and appreciation.



And now that he thought about them, how were Severus and Remus doing?



* * *



Severus looked in the mirror. The dentists had done an amazing job on his teeth, which were all now pearly white and straight. He\'d finally had the dental work now that he was no longer a spy, and while he was a bit more reluctant to change his hair or nose, he definitely thought the teeth were an improvement.



\"My God, Severus, you\'ve become as vain as a Malfoy recently. . .\"



Severus whirled round to scowl at Remus-the-annoyingly-cuddly-werewolf.



\"Not quite, wolf. I haven\'t started talking to my reflection yet.\"



He stalked out of the bathroom and took the cup of tea Remus held out to him. While they hadn\'t moved their relationship beyond night-time snuggling--indeed, there had only been the briefest of kisses now and then-- most of the old antipathy and aggressive tension had faded away. To be replaced by other tensions, to be sure, but Remus seemed content for things to go slowly, and Severus was quite happy to do so. He was still sorting out in his mind all the ramifications of James Potter\'s letter, and until he had finished with that, moving very far into any other relationship would be. . .well, troublesome.



Not that the wolf wasn\'t troublesome on his own, Severus reflected. He\'d already learned to make tea exactly the way he liked it, so Severus couldn\'t complain about that. And he wasn\'t loud, or obnoxious, or stupid, or even overly attentive. He was rather cuddly when they crawled into bed at night, and at first Severus had of been of a mind to say something. But then he found that the additional body-heat had soothed his tired, aching bones and muscles far better than any potion ever had, so complaining about that would have been rather stupid. And that was the problem--there was nothing to complain about! His life was, at this moment, better than it had ever been. He was safe, well-paid, respected by the community, and had a warm bed-mate who demanded very little of his attention, but ended up with most of it anyway.



It made him want to throw something at the wall.



* * *



Harry wanted to throw something, but settled for scowling at the tomatoes. It wasn\'t their fault nobody had thought to tell him certain things about their guests last night, but since Draco was apparently still sleeping the night off, there was no one else to scowl at. Maybe Hedwig, but that wouldn\'t be fair, and she would probably bite him back. Tomatoes, on the other hand, didn\'t do much biting, so he thought it might be safe to glare at them.



He hadn\'t done too badly, he mused as he pinched off a top and inspected a ripening plum tomato. Well, after the initial shock of it all, as he stood at his front door gaping in shock and mild horror.



Finished with the tomatoes, he walked over to the lilies and daffodils. The gnomes had done a good job--why nobody had ever offered gnomes employment was beyond him. For twenty percent of the yield, they kept the gardens free of weeds and pests, and wouldn\'t steal anything since they knew it would come out of their percentage.



\"Stupid magic people,\" Harry groused, picking some blooms. \"Think they\'re so smart. No, gnomes are too much trouble, let\'s throw them out and do all the work ourselves. Oh, Harry will surely know that when we say \'We\'ve invited the Spencers\' it includes the grandsons who are usually referred to as Windsors!\"



\"Er, lemonade?\"



Harry turned at the timid offer. Not only was there lemonade, but sandwiches as well. Lots of them, and it looked like Draco had made them himself, and not had Dobby do it. A peace offering then.



\"Thanks,\" he muttered, taking a glass and gulping the cool liquid down gratefully.



Draco looked awkward for a moment, then spoke.



\"We shouldn\'t have assumed you would think of the Royal Family in the same light as wizards do. You were raised by Muggles, someone should have mentioned it at least once. I\'m sorry.\"



Harry plopped down on a chunk of quartz sitting among the flowers, sighing.



\"Their Royal Highnesses seemed to have a good time, at least. Once I could speak again.\"



Draco knelt next to him, not sure if he was forgiven yet. \"They seemed to find Todd quite adorable.\"



Harry snorted. \"Todd is adorable. He could probably charm the Devil off his throne if he wanted to.\"



\"So, am I forgiven?\"



Draco\'s expression was so earnest Harry had no choice but to cave in.



\"I suppose so.\" He leaned forward to kiss the blonde\'s pouty lips. \"Just, try to mention things like this in the future.\"



All right, Draco agreed. I promise to tell you in advance when Royal half-breeds are coming over for dinner.



* * *



The \"Royal half-Breeds\" Draco spoke of were currently sitting in a poorly lit room in front of a Vampire.



\"You\'re sure about this?\" the older Prince asked, warily.



\"Absolutely,\" the vampire replied. \"In her last life, she was my commanding officer. She was a he then, but still, it\'s the same soul.\"



\"But,\" the younger Prince tried not to fidget, remembering his grandmother\'s stern words when he was little \"but you said she\'s got multiple personalities right now. How can you know, through all that?\"



\"The personalities themselves tell, if you know what to look for. One is consumed with rage and blood-lust, the other is as kind and caring as a spring breeze.\"



The Princes looked at each other. It was at times like this that they missed their mother the most. As much as they loved their father, he could be such a Muggle sometimes.



\"Why are you telling us this?\" the eldest asked eventually.



The vampire sighed. \"She is facilitating the meeting between Captain Lafitte and Harry Potter so that an agreement between them may be reached. Since he is technically under your protection, we thought it . . . courteous to inform you. Moreover, she will be coming here with one of our representatives in the autumn.\"



\"Who else knows about this?\"



The vampire looked thoughtful. \"Once it happens, his entire Coven will know. But I doubt anyone in Governmental position will know. Except the two of you, and whomever you share the knowledge with.\"



The younger Prince snorted. \"Fudge is such an incompetent arse, I\'d never trust him with that information. The Prime Minister, however, should be informed.\"



\"I agree.\" His elder brother nodded. \"He\'s got most of his information from the Americans.\"



\"Who have been getting most of their information from her,\" the vampire murmured.



* * *



The Prime Minister was in a mood to strangle someone, not that it showed. But still, to be forced to rely on . . . the Americans of all people to get information about what was going on in his own island was worse than embarrassing. MI-5 was doing everything it could, but it wasn\'t much.



Still, Their Royal Highnesses were very helpful, and had recently been in contact with a visiting vampire. Again, from America. He sighed.



It was too bad he couldn\'t simply fire Fudge, unfortunately, Cromwell had made the separation a little too complete. It almost tempted him towards contacting Sinn Fein. He wouldn\'t, of course. But it was somewhat more pleasant to think about.



He poured himself another cup of Earl Grey.



* * *



Neosgal3: So, Yahi-kun, you get me those doujinshi I asked for?



Mech-mech: Hai, hai. But I had to pull in a lot of favours from the Hentai Onna no Gumi. They set a high price.



Neosgal3: Yatta! Yahi-kun, you\'re the best! When do I get them?!?!?!?!



Mech-mech: When we meet up in July, in Baltimore.



Neosgal3: I gotta wait for Otakon? Awww!



Mech-mech: Yes, you will wait. Postage is a #@$^ from Neo-Tokyo. And if you whine too much, I don\'t know if I\'ll be able to upgrade your processor. And your elbow rotors might have to wait to be oiled again.



TheLadyisaVamp: HA! He\'s got you, Trinny. Just wait for them. . .



Neosgal3: You\'re a vampire, you can wait forever. I\'m just a mortal, who has to live her best while she can!



LaughingCrow: No, you\'re just a perv who likes little boys.



Neosgal3: \'Crow! I . . .



TheLadyisaVamp: See, little cyborg-girl can\'t lie on the net. Poor little \'borg. . .



Neosgal3: Arg. Resistance is Futile, dammit!




review please, so I know you\'re still out there! ^_^!