Dragon's Tears

Toy Soldiers

It is the wisdom of the crocodiles, that shed tears when they would devour.
- Francis Bacon

Before I could begin my vendetta against Lucius, however, I first had to make arrangements. After all, the head of the Black family could not simply disappear without a trace. I spent months with the lawyers again, this time making arrangements for my mother's upkeep, for funds to keep up the house, funds to be sent out to the proper charities, all done so that no one would even notice that I was gone. I shared my true plans with no one, however. And at twenty years of age, who would really care if I disappeared into the woodwork for a while? I had cut off all contact from my Slytherin cohorts, and mother was the only person I spoke to at any great length anymore. It was possible she knew what I was up to, but if she did, she made no comment, and neither hindered nor helped me as I made my preparations.

I rented a small flat in the town nearest that woman's home, and began to stock it with the things I thought I would need. I took a house-elf with me, as I would have no time or patience to upkeep the place myself, and along with my clothes, I took the gifts father had given me over the years. My chessboard and the soldiers father had given me as reward for becoming prefect were the most important of this lot. I remembered now when I had seen the toy soldiers before. It had been that day. The day I had first seen her. Probably the day he had first seen her. I would make sure to use that against him. In the most painful way possible. They, along with a few of those gold and silver chess pieces would be my calling card.

So, armed with a plan, I set out to make my father as miserable as he had made me.

I spent several months just watching them go about their business. She was gone much of the time. Working, I assumed. While Lucius spent all his time chasing after the now three girls they had had together. The third child was even more shocking than the other two. If I had not seen her in his arms, I would have been certain she was a Weasley. I wondered to myself which Weasley she had cheated on father with to give birth to such an orange-haired monstrosity. And how in the hell had she convinced him to accept the child? Every time the thing cooed, he looked as though he would melt on the spot.

I had also arranged for several types of magical spying devices, though many of these stopped working the moment I brought them onto the property. Though I stood far away, I could hear every word Lucius and his mistress spoke to each other, and was often quite nauseated by their "loving" words. However, this also helped me along in my plan. I had decided that the best way to hurt him--punish him--was to do what he had done to me. To take away the thing, or in this case, things, that he cared for most. Those girls. And now, listening to him, and her, talk to them, I knew all their names.

Reni, or Renata, was the eldest. She was the one I had held in my arms five years before. Her blonde hair bounced as she walked with him, her hand clasped tightly about his. She had the Malfoy attitude, often displayed when she was especially displeased with her father. She would be easy. After all, she was just like me.

Kali, or Kalare, was the second girl. She looked like a small duplicate of her mother. And she was easy to hate. Though the girl was barely three, Lucius had her out on a broom every day, giving her encouragement and praise, telling her that she would be the best Slytherin Seeker ever. But she also idolized her older sister, doing anything Reni told her, often to the point of getting into trouble that Reni so easily slipped out of. If I could get Renata to come with me, Kalare would follow willingly.

The red-headed child was Teecie, or Ticia. And despite the fact that she was barely six months old, I could tell that she would be the most trouble of the three. She doted on Lucius. Whatever she was doing, the moment he was in the room, her head would turn to him, and she would giggle, coo...anything to get as close to him as possible. And he returned the favour. She was obviously his favourite. I could see it in the envy in Reni's eyes.

So, a target in mind, I began my first forays.

I noticed that Lucius often spent time with Kali and her broom in the afternoons. However, the first time I had noticed this little activity, I had watched my father limp out after the girls, Teecie in a carry sack draped over his front. He leaned heavily on his cane, and in my mind flashed an image of that familiar, silver, snake-headed cane that I had been hit with so many times before. How dare he be in anything less than perfect health? But if he thought showing weakness would make me back off, he was sorely mistaken.

During the time Lucius spent teaching Kali, Reni often sat at the top of a small hill crowned by an old olive tree. Because he was usually alone with the girls, I knew it would be a simple thing to approach her without his notice at this time. So, early one morning in late spring, I placed the first of the soldiers up on the hill, and waited, hidden, to see her reaction. She was startled, at first, then curious. She picked up the soldier and looked around. I could practically read her mind, as I knew exactly how I would have reacted to the situation myself. Curiosity would soon be followed by suspicion, then avarice. After all, it had been left on her hill. Therefore, it must be hers. She slipped the soldier into the pocket, but continued to look around. "Hello?" I heard her call. But I could wait. I had to take this slow. Wouldn't do for her to get too suspicious, now, would it?

The next day, I repeated the process, this time leaving a card with her name on it. Now she was truly curious. I watched as her eyes darted across the space that separated us, then away, to try and find her new benefactor. But still I stayed away.

However, the third day, when she had looked away, from where I was hiding, I stepped into view. She jumped when she saw me. Her eyes grew wide.

"Who...who are you? Do I...know you?" I shook my head. Not a word. Let her speak. I had to show her that I wasn't threatening. Had to gain her trust. I knelt down so that we could see each other better. "You seem...familiar. Like I've seen you before. And...you look...like me." I smiled, nodding. "Have I seen you before?" I smiled and nodded again. Now it was her turn to smile. "I thought so. Uncle Sev says I have an amazing memory. That I'll be the smartest Slytherin ever to attend Hogwarts, him included." My mood darkened as I thought of my former teacher. He was in on this? How could he? Didn't he know what Lucius had done to me?

It was time to go. I didn't want my mood to affect my plans, so I rose, waved to her, and walked away, ignoring her cries of "Wait! Don't go yet! I want you to meet Papa!" With those words, I sped once more to my hiding place, and disapparated to my flat. Too close. If Lucius had seen me...

I did not repeat the process the next day, and was treated to Renata's sorrowful reaction when she discovered no new soldier waiting for her at the top of the hill that day. However, I was quite pleased that I had not continued the process when I noticed that woman was home. She joined her daughter at the hill-top, and I shuddered, wondering what she would have done had she caught me talking to her daughter.

I repeated the process after waiting for the woman to disappear off to wherever it was that she went when she was gone for days at a time. This time, however, I waited for Reni with the toy in my hand. When she saw me, she grinned. "I thought you weren't coming back." She ran to my side, a wide grin on her face. This disturbed me a bit. It felt so nice to have someone who was pleased to see me, but I couldn't allow this to deter me from my course. I smiled down at her and handed her the soldier. "Thank you," she said. "I'll put it with the others. I play with them every night. They're so cool." She looked up at me again. "Do you have a name?"

I smiled. I'd been thinking on this a lot. I knew, eventually, that I would have to tell her something, so I'd made sure to decide what to say before hand. "You can call me Dragon."

Her eyes lit up. "I like dragons."

"So do I."

"I like snakes and lizards, too. Father says that I'll be the perfect Slytherin when I get to school. He's even going to allow me to take a snake. Uncle Sev says that he'll make sure that it's alright for me, so that I don't get into trouble about it."

I frowned.

She looked up at me, worried. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, Dragon."

I shook my head. "Not you, little one. Don't worry. I'm not going to disappear so quickly this time."

She grinned again, and we talked for several more minutes before I told her it was time to leave again.

"But you'll come back and talk with me again, won't you?"

I smiled down at her. "Of course, little one." Then I patted her on her head, and turned and walked away to my apparition point.

In the days that followed, I learned many things. I discovered that Reni's mother was currently teaching at Hogwarts, and was therefore gone four days out of the week. Reni and I visited on those days, and I stayed away from the hill on the days I knew that woman would be home. Reni told me of her frustrations of dealing with two younger sisters, and I listened patiently as she told me, while I gloated, that sometimes she wished that her Uncle Sev was her father, and not Lucius. I was patient, kind, and understanding. Each time we visited, I brought her a new toy. One of my own, all given to me at one time or another by Lucius.

Spring passed to summer, and I had to be more careful with my visits with Reni, as now that woman was home a great deal more. I would wait at my hiding place until I saw Reni come up the hill by herself and call my name. I told her that I was her magical friend, but that I would have to go away if either of her parents found out that we visited together. To this, she easily agreed. I could tell she liked having secrets of her own.

Towards the end of the summer, Reni told me that she would be forced to stay inside a lot more come autumn. She said Lucius would be giving her things to learn, and so she wouldn't be able to visit with me as often. I told her that any time she wanted to visit with me, all she needed to do was come up to the hill and call my name, and if I could, I would come to her. "Thank you, Dragon. I'd miss you if I couldn't see you any more." She hugged me, and I felt my throat tighten. Lucius didn't deserve her.

When autumn began, I sat in a car I had rented and enchanted to drive for me. It was getting colder now, and it would do no good for me if I were to catch pneumonia or something like that. And so I continued to watch and to listen, as Teecie began to walk, and Reni's reading improved. Kali began to whine when she discovered she would not be allowed onto her broom every day any more, and I could not suppress a grin. Take that, you little brat, I couldn't help but think.

Time passed slowly as I watched Lucius and his new family. Reni came to call for me a few times that autumn. Most times, I simply sat and listened to her complaints. Teecie and Kali got all Lucius's attention. Her mum was gone too much. Now that she was almost six, her father expected her to take on new chores like taking out the garbage and drying the dishes while her father washed them. I simply smiled, and assured her that I would never expect such things from such an important girl as her.

Then Christmas began to approach, and I knew that I had to get away. I left a note to Reni in the knot of the tree, using simple words that I knew she would be able to read, telling her that I should be back in time for her birthday in January. Then I returned to my flat, and sank into a depression. I knew what would be going on at that house. I'd seen it before. And I couldn't watch it again. And so I spent a month alone in my flat, and when I would look back on the time later, I was sure that this only increased the pain I felt. The images my mind created had to be far more torturous than what happened in actuality.

I recalled the happy family image I had seen the year before, father holding Reni up so that she could put the star on the tree, and Kali toddling around her mother's ankles as the woman rubbed her pregnant belly. Now there would be five of them. Would he let Kali put the star on this year? Or would he let little Teecie, who was too young to even understand what was going on, but insist that she should do it, simply because he loved her best? I could see the three girls dressed in winter coats and hats, rolling about in the snow, making snow angels, and helping Lucius create a snowman. I ground my teeth together.

The only "happy" Christmas memories I had were of my father sending me off to bed early so that I would be out of the adults' way as they got drunker and drunker. I even recalled one Christmas when I heard a giggle outside my door, and opened it to see my father with Pansy's mother, right across from my room. Her legs were wrapped around his hips as he bucked into her, and her head was thrown back as she gasped, his mouth on her neck. I had swallowed my nausea, quietly closed the door again, then run to my bed and hid under the pillows to muffle the sound of what they were doing.

I drowned my sorrows in firewhiskey that year, and only managed to pull myself out of my depression by reminding myself of my plan. But I wasn't ready yet. I still had to finish "seducing" Reni's love away from Lucius so that she would go along with whatever I said, and soon I would have to begin on Kali as well.