Dark Descent

In The Beginning

Lucius Malfoy was home for the summer holidays from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The 17 year old boy was enjoying the sun and sleeping in late in the mornings. This holiday had been more pleasant than most times he spent at home. His parents, who didn't get along well, were spending more time apart than usual. This meant peace and quiet for Lucius, and he loved it.

After a few weeks, though, the arguments began once again. He knew it had been too good to last. These fights were louder and more violent than usual. He could hear the thumping sounds his father's fists made against his mother's body. He could never understand why Rowena never fought back, neither with her hands nor her wand. She just took whatever Janos dealt out.

The cause of the fights was the fact that Janos had introduced Lucius to an old friend of his, Voldemort, a very powerful wizard with many exciting plans, and wanted Lucius to train with him, but Rowena feared for her son and tried to prevent it. This made Janos mad with rage and he could barely control what he did to his wife. Lucius didn't dare step in between them, his father had beat him enough to know that he was not a man to be interfered with. Lucius had always hated himself for putting himself first before his mother's safety. It was a weakness he didn't have the power to overcome.

One night, the fighting was unbearable to Lucius. Malfoy Manor was large and yet he could hear them from two floors away. Lying in bed, with an arm tucked under his head, Lucius heard screams and the sounds of objects shattering against walls. After an hour, he began to think about the safety of Hogwarts and how it would be much better there than at the manor. He felt sad that he only had one more year left there. He also thought about his father's friend and how Voldemort seemed to be everything his father wasn't. He had grown quite fond of him over the holiday.

Usually the arguments had ended by now, but this seemed to have no ending in sight. There was a scream from his mother and a loud thudding noise. Lucius hid his head under his pillow, trying to drown out the sounds in his ears and the thoughts in his head. The noise ended and Lucius emerged from under his pillow. He remained awake for several more hours, riddled with shame for not going to his mother's aid. Slowly, he drifted off to a fitful sleep.

The next morning, Lucius awoke with a start, still remembering the fighting from the night before. Janos would be at work by now and it would be safe to see his mother. Still in his pajamas, Lucius crept silently to his parent's bedroom to see if his mother was still there. There was no answer when he knocked on the door, so Lucius opened it and poked his head inside. It was empty. He stepped further into the room and looked at the damage from the night before. Glass and ceramic shards littered the floor, torn clothing lay on there as well. Stepping closer to the bed, Lucius noticed what looked like a hand lying on the carpet. His stomach fluttered with nervousness as he stepped closer to see. His mother's crumpled body lay on the ground, still, lifeless.

Horror spread across Lucius's face and he felt that he might be sick. He knelt down to her side and shook her as though to wake her. "Mother?" he called to her. "Mother?" he said again. Frantically shaking her now, he began to scream, "Mum, mum!" He didn't know what to do; there was nothing that could be done to help her. He took her small body in his arms and rocked her back and forth. One lesson his father had beaten into him very well was that Malfoy men didn't cry. There was a bitter sense of satisfaction as he rebelled against his father and allowed the tears to flow freely down his face. He held the body of his mother and sobbed for a long time before composing himself. Looking at her beautiful, still face, Lucius gazed for a final time into her coal black eyes that had always been able to reach into his soul, yet not this time. He gently closed her eyes and kissed her cold face before laying her down on the floor.

Finally, Lucius stood up and walked to the bathroom that adjoined the bedroom. He made it just in time to be sick in the toilet. He washed the acrid, burning taste in his mouth with water from the sink. Then he washed his hands. He stood at the sink for an hour, compulsively washing his hands, staring dazedly into the mirror. He realized that his mother's death was his fault. He hadn't been strong enough to stand up to his father and now his mother had paid the ultimate price. Her blood was on his hands and he could never get it off.

He couldn't stay at Malfoy Manor, not with his mother's body, not with his father, not with his weaknesses. As Lucius turned the faucet off, he made a decision. Running to his room, he found a pair of black leather gloves that he normally wore in the wintertime. He put them on in order to cover up the blood that he felt was dripping from his hands. Without packing anything, Lucius walked away from his house and eventually found himself at Voldemort's side, to whom he pledged his allegiance.