Dragon's Tears

This chapter breaks voice from the rest of the story. It will be told in third person. The next chapter will go back to Draco and the girls, but I wanted everyone to see exactly how the kidnapping affected the other adults in the girls' lives.

The title for this one is a play term, I believe. It is an old term referring to the part in between two acts, and basically, it's a French term meaning "intermission."

Entracte

It was dusk when Lucius realized that the girls had yet to come in. At least Adriana wasn't home to chide him about it. Of course, there were plenty of things for Adriana to chide him about. After all, Lucius had plenty to feel guilty about. Particularly, keeping the fact that Draco might have been stalking their family from her.

But at least there had been no new sign of Draco for months. Perhaps it had been a fluke; just pure chance that had brought two horrifyingly familiar objects to his girls on their birthdays. Surely Draco had no knowledge of his sisters' existence, did he? And what would Adriana do when she discovered this secret that he and Snape had been keeping from her?

At least now he knew that the girls were safe. Whatever had been going on, whether Draco had been planning it or not, nothing had happened in months. Whoever it was must have just been playing with him. But who else could it have been? The few surviving Death Eaters had gone into hiding, or been sent to Azkaban. They had no way to find him. No one even knew where he was, aside from Snape, and he wouldn't have done that to Adriana. Lucius, perhaps, but not Adriana. No, the only person who had any chance of truly finding him was Draco.

He sighed, pulled on his coat, and went out to find the girls.

It was fifteen minutes, before he could admit to himself that they were gone. Fifteen agonizing minutes calling the girls' names, searching the orchard, the barn and the far side of the little hill near the house, Lucius's dread growing with every passing second. Damn Renata and her willful ways. If she'd led her sisters into the woods...But he couldn't let himself truly panic yet. There were still several places the girls could be hiding. He just had to find them.

He hurried back to the front porch so he could go inside and retrieve a torch and was about to step inside when he saw something glint on the doormat. Bending down carefully, he picked up the four small objects laying there. Glinting in his palm lay four chess pawns. One in shining gold, and the other three bright silver. His heart fell to somewhere around his knees as he recognized them. And their significance. "Please...no..." he moaned. It couldn't be. He hurried into the house, leaving the front door open in his haste to run to his daughters' rooms. On each pillow he saw the small figures of three very familiar, identical soldiers. Soldiers that he had given Draco so many years ago.

Draco...had his girls. Lucius collapsed under the emotions that closed in around him, standing in the doorway of his youngest child's room. He hated him. He'd tear the boy limb from limb. But, another part of him said, this is Draco. Your son. And then worry. Adriana. When she found out. She'd kill the boy. Or Lucius himself. Snape had been helpful before, but there was no way that they'd be able to keep this from her.

Lucius closed his eyes. Yet another mistake. And now his girls would pay because of it. Little Teecie, her bright smile, and constant chattering. Kali, his little Quidditch player, never more at home than when she was on her broom. And Reni. His little trouble-maker. She had obviously helped her brother. Had he told her who he was? And then another child appeared in his memory. Pale skin, light golden hair, eyes wide and turned up to look into his father's face as he chatted away about something. Draco...so much time lost.

He had thought when Draco had changed his name to Black, that leaving it alone would help draw away some of his son's anger. That perhaps, given time, the boy would become more...approachable. But the letters he had sent to Draco had gone unanswered. He wondered if he had even read them, or simply burned them, still in their envelopes. He realized that he hadn't even seen his son since his fifth year at Hogwarts. So long ago. It had been the year from hell for Lucius. But that was no excuse. He should have tried to visit him. At least once. Given the boy a chance to rage at him. Something. Anything.

He paled at the thought of what Draco might do to the girls to get even with him. He wouldn't...hurt them, would he? They were still his sisters. It was Lucius he was angry at. But he knew exactly what Draco was capable of. After all, he'd taught the boy the spells himself. Used first on insects, then small animals...It wouldn't take much for him to transfer his anger to his sisters. Just the thought that Draco might use the spells Lucius had taught him on Lucius's own daughters...He could just imagine the girls' cries of pain, and twisted faces as Draco stood above them, his eyes glowing with hate. Lucius choked back a sob.

Lucius dragged himself up, using the door frame to steady himself. He knew there was no time to spare. He had to find the boy, and get to him before Draco did anything drastic. And he knew who he had to call for help. Snape. Snape cared about the boy almost as much as he did himself, and had far more resources than Lucius did these days. Not to mention the fact that Draco had always looked up to the man. He'd probably have a better chance of talking Draco out of whatever it was he was doing. Of course, knowing Snape, he'd ask for his firstborn in return. Lucius winced at the automatic thought when it finally registered.

And maybe, if Lucius was particularly lucky, Snape would even be willing to be the one to tell Adriana. He'd certainly have a better chance of keeping her from searching Draco out and murdering him on the spot.

Lucius wrapped his coat tighter around him, slipped the pawns into his pocket, picked up his cane, then closed the door to the house, locking it behind him. Then he walked down to the street, and apparated to Hogsmeade.

* * *

Severus was just entering the Great Hall for dinner when he was accosted by a small owl. Snarling, he caught the owl in his hand and stepped out into the entranceway to read the message, letting go of the owl as he did so.

Snape,

That thing we were concerned with has happened. The girls are with him. I need to speak with you. She cannot know. Meet me at your office.

L.

Severus went utterly still. Draco. Damn that boy! Why did everything have to be about him? Of course, Lucius was just as much to blame for it. If Draco hurt any of those girls, Severus would help Adriana murder Lucius in his sleep.

Severus turned on his heel and walked quickly to his office. Lucius was waiting there for him. He snarled at the man, but knowing that yelling at him in the hallway would only attract attention, he muttered "Hellibore" to the gargoyle blocking their way and led the man up to his office. Once the door was closed behind them, he cast a silencing spell on the door and turned to look at Lucius.

He was quite unable to keep the growl from his voice. "How long?"

"Early afternoon sometime. They went out to play and I haven't seen them since."

"Idiot! How could you let them go out unattended together? You knew Draco was up to something! Why weren't you watching them?"

Lucius slumped onto the couch across from Severus's desk and closed his eyes for a moment. Severus watched unsympathetically as the man shook slightly. The man's voice wavered when he spoke. "I...wanted to believe that Draco couldn't do it. And there hadn't been anything new since you'd told me you talked to him. I thought he was gone."

"You know you brought this on those girls, don't you?" Severus snarled. "Couldn't be bothered to approach your son? Or were you just so worried for your safety that you didn't want to leave Adriana's farm?"

Lucius uncurled from the couch, and began to pace. "God, Snape, don't you think I know how stupid I've been? It is my fault. That's why I'm here." He turned to Severus once more. The plea in his eyes was plain. "I need your help to find them. Please, Severus. Help me find my children. All of them."

Severus was taken aback. This was nothing like the Lucius Malfoy he thought he knew. He had seen Lucius broken, but even then he had never heard Lucius Malfoy beg. They were far from friends, but they were connected...by those children. All four of them. And Severus didn't want Draco hurt any more than he wanted those girls hurt. He sighed. "Of course I'll help you, Lucius." He walked to the fireplace, grabbed a handful of floo powder, and began pulling in every favour he could think of.

After he finished with his last contact, Severus turned back to Lucius, who had returned to his seat and was once more hunched over his hands. "Where do you think he would go, Lucius? You must have some idea."

Lucius didn't move for a moment. His head was held in his hands, and Snape could see his shoulders shudder. Severus could barely hear his voice when he finally responded. "I don't know."

"Damn, it, Lucius, think! He's your son. Where would you go if you had done this? Where does he feel safe? Or don't you even know that?" Severus sneered at the weeping man.

"No, you miserable sycophant." Lucius looked up at Severus, a glare on his face. "I don't. Does that please you? I have no idea where my only son would hide from me."

Severus bit back his immediate response. As much as he hated the man, taunting him about Draco would only make things worse. "We need to make a list, Lucius. Where do you think he might go? Any place you can think of. The faster we can come up with a list, the faster we can find them."

"I don't know...I'd say Malfoy Manor, but that hasn't been used since Voldemort deserted it. And I doubt he'd take the girls to his mother." Lucius suddenly looked up at Severus. "You don't think she's in on this, do you?"

Severus pursed his lips. "No. She may not like you, but I think she's much happier simply not thinking about you. And it was obvious to me when I visited her home that Draco hadn't been there in months."

They spent several minutes passing ideas back and forth, including the possibility that they might be hidden somewhere on the Hogwarts grounds, and were about to decide where to look first when a knock came at the door. "Sev? Are you in there?"

Lucius looked up in a panic. "Adriana!"

Severus drew himself up. They'd have to tell her sooner or later, after all. "Go upstairs. I'll give her some tea with a calming draught. Then you will tell her." Lucius stood, but looking panicked and uncertain. "Go!" Lucius moved towards the stairs, limping quickly, and soon the man had disappeared from sight. Severus moved towards the door and opened it. "Adriana. What a pleasure. Would you like some tea?"

Adriana blinked for a moment. "Are you all right, Sev? You didn't show up to dinner."

Severus smoothed his face into a smile. "An important message arrived, and I needed to attend to it. Please, come in, sit down. Let me get us some tea, and I can tell you about it."

* * *

Adriana cursed for the fiftieth time since she'd entered the office. Damn both of them! She should have known something was up. How could she have been so stupid? And the tea should have been a big clue. She was usually the one to suggest tea, not Sev. She should have known it was an ambush. Maybe Alastor was right. Maybe it was better to carry your own drink with you everywhere. She thought she could trust Severus! He'd pay for that. If she didn't kill him first.

And Lucius. Lucius would be lucky if she let him die slowly. How could he allow this to happen?

She and Sev had been chatting about how well her classes had been going when she felt an odd feeling come over her. She had sighed, and Sev had looked at her oddly, calculatingly. "Adriana?"

"Yes, Sev?" she smiled. She knew something was wrong, but she couldn't bring herself to care about it.

"How are you feeling?"

She took a deep breath. "Wonderful. So...relaxed."

And that was when Lucius had appeared. It should have worried her that she hadn't felt more alarmed or surprised. Instead, she simply grinned. "Lucius. What are you doing here?" she grinned up at him.

He sat beside her, and if she had been in a fit state of mind, she would have immediately been concerned. But Sev had seen to that. And so she had remained calm through the revelation that Lucius's son had been stalking them...for years. That he had taken their children, and that the two men had no idea even where to start to look.

Deep inside, she began to scream, but for some reason, she was able to do no more than look slightly concerned. "What will you do?"

Sev took over at this point. "We've come up with a list of places to start looking, but we'd really like it if you would stay here while we look, Adriana, all right?"

She wanted to scream at them, pull out their innards through their noses, but what came out of her mouth was, "Of course, Severus."

Sev smiled, sadly. "I'll lock the door behind us, and we'll keep you notified by the fire. If you need anything, just call for the house-elves. They have their own ways to get up here." With that, they departed.

When the potion Sev had dosed her with had finally worn off, she had tried desperately to leave the room. But upon putting her hand on the doorknob, her hand was shocked, and when she managed to hold it long enough to turn it, she was shoved back into the centre of the room. How dare he restrain her? Surely what she'd promised under a potion couldn't count as binding? But, apparently it could. She did everything she could to get through the door before collapsing in tears in the middle of the room after once again being pushed there by the door.

So now, she paced. And waited. And both in her head, and out loud, she screamed. Her girls. How could Lucius do this? How could he be so reckless with their daughters' lives? But why should that surprise her? Hadn't she seen how he'd treated his precious son? No, this was her own fault. She should have known the boy was dangerous. That he wouldn't let go. She should never have started working here, so far from her girls.

Damn the selfish brat anyway! If he hurt her girls, he'd pay dearly. She'd take Argus's chains, and string him up by them, first from his ankles, so she could slap him repeatedly, shred his skin with her nails, perhaps even claw his eyes out. Then she'd hang him up by his thumbs. Watch him twist and shriek with each pull she gave to his ankles. She'd make the boy suffer. And make sure he'd be unable to continue the line that his father never should have started.

Every so often, she would storm through the room, throwing spells that smashed into the delicate beakers and tubes that made up Severus's potions equipment. Then she would collapse into a chair and weep. After several hours of pacing, destruction and despair, she heard a calm, quiet voice call out from behind Severus's chair.

"Adriana. Please calm down. You know they'll find him. And the girls will be fine. Draco may be angry, but he's nothing like what his father was at his worst. He just wants to make his father pay."

She stood and walked to the portrait behind the chair. "And how, exactly, do you know that, Albus?"

Her old friend's eyes twinkled as always as he answered. "I spent seven years with the boy, Adriana. He's a good lad, just sad. You know what Lucius was like. Can you imagine what the boy's life must have been like?"

Adriana's face clouded. "I don't care! That doesn't give him permission to hurt my girls!"

"We don't know he will hurt them, Adriana. Who knows what the boy is thinking. I think this is more about Draco and his father than it is about your girls. The girls were just his way of getting Lucius's attention."

"So, why didn't he just abduct the idiot himself, instead of taking my girls?"

"I don't know, Adriana. But I honestly think that the girls will be fine."

"You can't know that! Would you be so calm if they were your own children, Albus?" she hissed. He shook his head sadly, and she was unable to contain her rage further. She tore the portrait of the former headmaster from the wall, flung it away from her, and began another whirling dervish of destructive spells aimed randomly around the room. When she could find nothing else to aim at, she collapsed on Severus's chair, tears pouring down her face as she wept. Soon the sobs quieted as the weight of her anger, pain and sadness collided with the loss of energy from casting so many destructive spells, and she fell into a restless sleep.