Pathway to Perdition

Epilogue

Ten days after their successful escape from the crypt of Thirladean Hall, Lucius Malfoy paces the small upstairs room he has requisitioned as his 'study' in the Fidelius-protected Order safehouse. Although August is finally living up to its promise, a small fire crackles in the grate before him. His cloak is slung over the back of a delicate chair. Its two topmost buttons have been cut off again, and are spinning on the small writing desk. He has smuggled them out of Azkaban, then reattached them to his new cloak in the dingy robe shop off Diagon Alley under the oblivious noses of Potter and Weasley. A poke activates the Self-Transfiguration Charm that has been put on them, and returns them to their original parchment shape.

Lucius eyes the wrinkled letters coldly, then picks up the topmost parchment once again.

My dear Lucius,

A mutual friend informs me that Lord Voldemort's threat to your son has made you reconsider your allegiances, and inclined to join us in our efforts to remove the shadow of Lord Voldemort from the wizarding world. Let me assure you that we will do all in our power to watch over Draco at Hogwarts and beyond. The same protection will be extended to your lady wife should she decide to accept it, as soon as we can approach her without compromising the safety of young Draco.

Although your support will not influence my decision on this matter, I think you will agree that taking the battle to Lord Voldemort as quickly as possible will be the most prudent course of action, not least for your own protection and that of your family. To that end, I would lay at your feet a particular task that I myself am incapable of undertaking. Our mutual friend will divulge matters to you in detail if you should be agreeable.

I remain yours sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore

The old man had not been joking. Indeed, when Severus Snape had turned up in his cell in Azkaban, scowling and bearing his Master's letter like a tattered messenger owl, the message itself had left Lucius torn between incredulity and amusement. To hear a proposition like this, from the Order of the Phoenix's paragon of virtue...

His eyes fall on the second parchment of his short correspondence with Hogwarts' Headmaster, and again he snorts in disgust.

I can only most sincerely beg your forgiveness for burdening you with a task as ignominious as this. Indeed, Tom Riddle's trap leaves me not only helpless to act, but unable to offer you advice or assistance in any form. I would give everything in my power to bear this myself, but it cannot be.

Yes, even renowned Albus Dumbledore could not die twice, nor lay this particular burden on Snape as well. No, Dumbledore had known perfectly well that Lucius would never touch the small handful of people he loves - Narcissa, Draco, and perhaps even Severus, albeit with the detached affection one would show a misled younger brother. The Headmaster had known that an innocent would have to pay the price for the Horcrux, and Lucius cannot help but feel that the old coot made the convenient choice to die in order to avoid facing the outcome.

Lucius had not so much lied to Potter and Weasley as concealed a few crucial points. Of course the Bloody Baron had shared his knowledge with Hogwarts' Headmaster - after all, Lucius had received his information from Albus Dumbledore's quill itself. And his mother's invented descent from the Bloody Baron was impossible to disprove without the lifetime efforts of a scholar of wizarding genealogy. It had all worked according to plan in the end. Now, however, Albus Dumbledore's final request leaves him torn.

I am well aware that I have no right to ask an additional boon, and know I cannot compel you. Nevertheless, I would urge you to conceal my involvement in this horrible affair from Harry until he has faced Lord Voldemort for the final time. He is very young and has suffered greatly. Even knowing and loving him like the son I never had, I fear that this knowledge might destroy his resolve or his ability to love and trust on which he will have to rely to defeat Lord Voldemort. If you can find it in yourself to bear my guilt and live as the target of his wrath until he can be safely told, you will have my eternal gratitude.

Levitating out of the crypt, safely shrouded in magic and with Potter's petrified form in his arms, Lucius had known it would not be easy. Although Potter had not attacked him on the spot when Lucius had released him from the spell, he had not looked at him or spoken once, as if a large part of him had died with Percy Weasley at the foot of Salazar's tomb.

For a moment, when they had faced the members of the Order in Grimmauld Place, Lucius had wondered whether Potter would break his side of the Unbreakable Vow - to speak up in Lucius' defence - and die out of pure spite. But he had uttered the required words, albeit with a face so stony that one of them - the Auror, Shacklebolt - had surreptitiously cast a Verification Charm on the boy. There can be no doubt that Potter is itching for a chance to avenge Weasley. Well, Lucius muses, if it gives him an additional incentive to kill the Dark Lord...

It would be a fitting revenge for Lucius' humiliation at Potter's hands to reveal to the boy how his trusted mentor had set the entire plan in motion. Especially since Lucius will wear the scar from Severus' Sectumsempra for the rest of his life. But then Lucius has seen the boy teetering at breaking point as he watched Percy die...

"I kept your secret, old man," Lucius sneers down at the parchment, at the loopy, eccentric handwriting that fits its owner so well. "The boy's opinion of you remains pristine, for all the good it will do him."

The old fool has filled Potter's head with fluff about love and choices, and then sent him off to a war where there would be none of either.

Lucius crumples the letters into a ball and hurls them into the grate. The fire kindles up at once, the parchment shining for a second in a translucent, golden glow that turns to crisp brown, shrivels in from the edges, and erupts as the flames eat through it.

"He should have chosen to love me instead, dear Albus - perhaps he would have suffered a little less."

~ finis ~