The Family Jewels

Have you ever noticed the parallels between Harry Potter and another famous literary HP – Hester Prynne? Both marked for all to see? Lurking evil from the past? If I still had to write thesis papers, I would have a field day with that one.

Chapter 48
Battle Weary

The arrangements for the Dark revel had proceeded smoothly. No one had heard a whisper that Lucius had been detained by the Ministry. Hermione watched silently as Lucius prepared the chamber for the arrival of the Dark Lord. When all was in readiness, Lucius came over to Hermione and wrapped his arms around her. It was clear that Lucius had been thinking his son’s behavior over, and had a few questions. He might trust Hermione, his son was another story.

“Why would Draco come here to take the Mark if he has rejected you?” he asked softly, nuzzling her neck.

“He thinks that you will be sentenced to the Dementor’s Kiss, and that he will have all the power of the Malfoy name and money as well as the fear inspired by the Dark Mark without you around. He wants to take over the world,” Hermione said bitterly.

“I must have raised him better than I thought,” Lucius said musingly. “Well, I suppose blood will win out in the end,” he shrugged.

“I’m sure he will be surprised to see the two of us here,” Hermione said.

“That is an understatement, darling. I will be robed and masked when he enters, do not betray that you know I am here, hmmm?” he asked her. “I will ask the Dark Lord if I can have you as my prize for bringing Draco to him. I have been a faithful servant, I am confident that he will give you to me,” he said.

Hermione was barely able to mask her flinch of disgust. “I am sure that he must know what a valuable servant you have been,” she said, smiling.

Several floors up in his father’s study, Draco was almost finished resetting the wards to allow the Aurors and the members of the Order to Apparate directly to the dungeons. Ron and Blaise sat nervously on a couch, not talking. Harry stood, steeling himself for another meeting with Voldemort.

“All right, Harry?” Ron asked, seemingly unable to bear the silence any longer.

“I’m afraid at this point I’m most concerned about the fact that we have sent Hermione in there by herself barely dressed.” Harry didn’t hesitate to show that he was getting himself in a mind set where he could kill.

“Snape will be there,” Blaise said. He hoped to kill Lucius personally, but he would settle for one of the others doing it.

“He only has orders to show himself if we’ve already won, or if it looks like he can turn the tide to our side,” Ron said. Ron clearly didn’t consider the presence of Severus Snape to be much of a consolation.

“Enough,” came Draco’s voice. “All this talk is just nerves. Once we get in there, instinct will take over.”

Harry and Blaise nodded their acceptance of this fact, Ron’s face just turned stony. Draco opened his mouth to say something else to him, when Potter’s hand forestalled him. He jerked his head no, and that was the end of it.

Draco went to Blaise and drew him into a bone cracking hug. They pulled back and looked at each other in the eyes. “I’ve got your back,” they said together. Even Ron managed a smile.

“The Death Eaters will be arriving soon. I want you in the chamber before they arrive. Lucius will have already swept the room, and Hermione promised to distract him, so we should get you three in there now,” Draco walked to the others and tapped them on top of their heads. Cold trickles seemed to run down their bodies, making them take on the exact color and texture of their surroundings. “I’ll lead you down there. Once you are in position, don’t move, or I won’t know where you are. Wait for my signal.”

The four walked down the many flights of stairs to the hidden rooms beneath Malfoy Manor. They had left the well-appointed rooms filled with antiques, marble and velvet far behind. The walls were rough hewn stone, lit by torches. As they approached the ritual chamber, low moans were the evidence of Hermione’s success in distracting Lucius Malfoy. They stiffened to a man at the noises, and a shiver ran down Harry’s spine at the sight that greeted him. Lucius had Hermione backed against the wall in the corridor, his face buried in her neck, one hand lost between her thighs.

Hermione saw Draco and knew that the other three must be with him. His face grew murderous when he saw that her eyes shone with unshed tears, but she merely lifted a hand to Lucius’ head to hold him to her and glanced at the room near them with the door open.

Draco led them to spots around the room that seemed to be out of the way, but still close to the throne on the slightly raised dais in the front. He hurried out and refused to look at his father and the woman he loved in a close embrace in the hall.

Snape felt his Dark Mark burn on his arm, and he turned to the others gathered in Dumbledore’s office. He stood, fastening his cloak around him. “He calls us,” he said simply, slipping his mask onto his face before touching the Mark and disappearing.

The Death Eaters Apparated directly into the ritual room, facing the throne in silence. Lucius donned his Death Eater apparel and brought Hermione into the room in just her torn underwear. His hand was heavy on her shoulder as he indicated that she should kneel on the floor directly in front of the throne. She kept her eyes downcast and was revolted to find that the floor she was kneeling on was stained with blood. Not a word was spoken by the assembled Death Eaters. When Lucius stepped into the circle there was not a space left unoccupied. All had come to see his triumph over his wayward offspring.

Lord Voldemort was obviously able to keep track of his minions from wherever he was, because he chose that moment to Apparate directly to his chair. Hermione did not look up, but she was able to feel the change in the magic in the room, the presence of evil itself.

Draco strode through the door as if he owned the place, which he, in fact, did. He was wearing a black Death Eater cloak, but was unmasked. He walked into the room and bowed to Voldemort. His voice was confident as he said, “My Lord,” in greeting.

“Why have you come here, young Malfoy?” Voldemort asked. His hand swished through the air, and the door to the room slammed shut and locked.

“I wish to accept my place in your service, my Lord,” Draco said respectfully.

“I had been led to believe that you were taking my Mark in order to sssave the life of the Mudblood filth there on the floor,” Voldemort hissed.

“Now that my father has had her, I no longer want her. My father was captured by the Ministry in his aborted kidnap attempt. I wish to take his place,” Draco said, careful not to raise his eyes.

Voldemort’s cruel mocking laughter filled the chamber. “Your father is here, now, in this chamber. It seems that you have failed to best him, yet again. I will, however, accept you into my service. Crucio!”

Draco fell onto the floor, writhing in pain. Through tear filled eyes he saw that his father had stepped forward from the group of Death Eaters. “My Lord, I respectfully ask for a reward in bringing my son to you. I have grown accustomed to the Mudblood toy. I wish to keep her,” Lucius said.

Voldemort removed the curse from Draco after another minute. “She is yours, dear friend. Stand up, young Malfoy; once you accept my Mark you will be a welcome addition to the ranks of my followers. Like father, like son.”

Draco stood and regained his breath. Voldemort was engaged in a quiet conversation with Wormtail, and he gave the signal to the others who were camouflaged in the room. Voldemort seemed to have no idea that anyone else was here. Draco had set the wards on the Manor to hide their magical signatures.

He calmly withdrew his wand from the sleeve of his robe and on the count of three, four beams of green light shot out at the Dark Lord. The harsh cry of “Avada Kedavra” was heard from the four. He poured all his love for Hermione, his mother and what his father had once been to him into his curse. The disillusionment charm came off the others when all his magic was centered on the curse. The beam had impaled Voldemort on the chair, but he still lived.

Severus saw that the other Death Eaters were ready to defend their Lord, and he also drew his wand and began cursing them right and left. He moved quickly to take up a defensive posture behind Voldemort’s throne. ‘It was not enough,’ he thought desperately. ‘Voldemort still lives.’ He stepped up behind Voldemort’s shoulder and threw “Crucio” at Hermione. Lucius jerked his head up to see whom had cast the Unforgivable on his love and found that the beam had come from the dais. Lucius also cast “Avada Kedavra” at Voldemort, and his beam became joined with that of his son, Harry Potter, Blaise Zabini and Ron Weasley. The defection of Lucius Malfoy to their side made the beam begin to shake in its power.

Harry heard both Ron and Blaise cry out, but they were the closest to the Death Eaters, it only made sense that they were trying to take them out of the battle first. ‘Where are the fucking Aurors?’ he thought wildly. They needed reinforcements, and they needed them now. Harry couldn’t take his eyes from Voldemort’s face to assess the carnage. There were now five beams of green light aimed at his mortal enemy. He knew they were still alive.

Lord Voldemort raised his red, snakelike eyes to the face of Harry Potter, who had moved to take his place in the center of the room. A golden glow seemed to surround him, and he was clearly feeding off the power of the others who supported him against the Dark Lord. He drew the sword that Draco had given him earlier in his father’s study. It had been passed down in the family for centuries, the fabled Sword of Charlemagne. It had a hilt, handle and pommel of gold, the face of a lion forming the hilt inlaid with rubies. Harry had thought when he first saw it that it was the sword of a Gryffindor, and he now thrust it into Voldemort, right through the heart.

He was dead. Angels did not sing from on high, Harry was tired and dirty. His right shoulder and back were a mass of deep cuts from Sectumsempra. He wanted to throw up. ‘Quite the conquering hero,’ he thought mockingly.

A strange quiet filled the room at the sight in the front of the room. Draco and Harry fell to their knees, weakened by the effort of killing Voldemort. Severus came over to Harry and pulled him to his feet. The Aurors were waiting outside the chamber, unable to break through the locking charm that Voldemort had placed on it. When Voldemort had been killed, the door swung eerily open, and Moody, Shacklebolt and Tonks and many others rushed into the room to observe the remains of the inner circle of the Death Eaters on their knees, cowed by the death of their leader.

Draco drew Hermione into his lap, and was glad to see that she had escaped the worst of the battle. He took off his cloak and covered her with it. She had been quietly crying, but now she gave him a fierce smile though her tears. “It’s over now,” she said.

Harry searched the room for Ron, and found him near where he had fallen. He had kept his wand on Voldemort the whole time, though he had obviously been subjected to a long bout of the Cruciatus curse. He was barely breathing. Blaise did not seem to be much better. He was obviously in great pain, both legs broken. But they were all alive, and Voldemort was fucking dead. He wasn’t sure if he had ever known such elation.

Severus took charge of the scene, pulling vials of pain potion out of his cloak and giving them to the four men who had saved the Wizarding world from its worst foe. Lucius was oddly quiet, sitting on the floor and observing the bonding going on between his son and Hermione. “Young love,” he remarked to Severus in a wondering voice. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in love,” he revealed in a broken voice.

Severus was deeply torn in that moment. Lucius had been his friend for many years, the father of his beloved godson, the husband of his lover. He was also the chief enforcer of a deranged megalomaniac, only recently dead. It was not up to him to decide if the last minute defection to their side overcame a lifetime of corruption. Severus hardened his heart. “The Aurors are here for you. I need to get the boys to St. Mungo’s,” he said, pulling out an emergency Portkey.

“They are not boys,” Lucius said.

Severus was quiet for a long moment. “No, they are men.”

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A/N – I keep saying I’m going to end this fic sometime soon, and then I don’t. LOL Thank you for reading and reviewing.

Nova – Hermione went to Madam Pomfrey in Chapter 18, Secrets and Lies, and got the contraceptive potion. Author says…still good.

Hanna Delacour – Me? A Slytherin? Now you’re just making me blush.