Apology For the Devil

Chapter Six—Invitations

You’re only given a little spark of madness.You mustn’t lose it.
[Robin Williams]

The only substitute for good manners is fast reflexes.
[Steven Wright]

###

It was early July when Lucius' marks came by owl post. His father released the letter from the owl, and took it to his study without showing them to Lucius. It made him rather nervous, on the whole.

That night, after dinner, Lucius was called to his father's study. He stood on the other side of Abraxas' desk, and was not invited to sit.

'Father?' he asked, waiting for their meeting to start.

'Your marks indicate that you have done well,' Abraxas said abruptly, looking down at the papers he held for reference. 'But you are not even in the top five within your year. I am a bit disappointed by that, Lucius.'

Lucius gulped. 'Disappointed' could mean many things—none of them good.

'I am particularly concerned about your Potions marks.' Concerned. Another nasty word, especially when it was coupled with Potions. Lucius cringed slightly; he knew he hadn’t done too well in that course.

'You must realize, Lucius, that if you do not master this material you will be in no position to build upon it next year.'

'Yes, Father.'

'I would like you to spend part of your summer correcting every Potions assignment that was returned to you this past year. You will give them to me, and I will review them. We will repeat this as often as necessary until they are perfect.'

What a waste of summer, Lucius thought glumly.

'The other marks, we shall leave.Though I do expect improvement next year. Understood?'

'Yes, father.'

'Good. May I suggest that you begin revising your Potions assignments before dinner?' Abraxas turned back to his work.It was not a suggestion.

As it turned out, revising his essays was easier than anticipated. The lessons did build on each other, so concepts he hadn't understood at the beginning of the term were now crystal clear. It also meant that many of the mistakes he'd made were actually the same mistake made multiple times. Those were easy to correct, too. In fact, after the first round of revisions, his father told him that almost 60% of his essays were perfect.

He'd finished them all by the first of August. His reward: the subject was never to be raised again.

And now it was the end of August, and Lucius would be heading back to Hogwarts in the morning. His trunk was packed and lay neatly shut at the foot of his bed, ready to be taken downstairs when he woke. His thoughts were less neat, and prevented him from falling asleep. They drifted, wandering from memories of the summer to hopes and anxieties of the impending school year.

It had been a lazy summer; no travel save for a weekend raid into Wales to visit Lucius’ aunt Claudia. Instead of adventures, Lucius had spent his time reading, playing Quidditch solo, and going to the private French lessons his mother insisted he take. She cited something about the 'Malfoy legacy.' He thought it was a ploy to keep him from staying in bed until noon, but he didn’t press the issue.

His mind lingered on the summer for a moment more before meandering towards thoughts of the future. What would it be like to be a second year? Would Sheridon still be an utter bastard? Had he been a fool to accept the ASPS invitation? Or had it been a clever move? What was the ASPS going to be like, anyway? Would the classes be more difficult? And would he fail Potions?

Turning those questions over in his mind kept him awake long into the morning. When he finally fell asleep, it was to dreams of Slytherin.

Lucius had lost his left shoe. That was a problem, because he was supposed to be leaving the house to catch the Hogwarts Express.

'Lucius,' came a shout from downstairs, 'what is taking so long?'

He spied the shoe under the bed, grabbed it and shoved it onto his foot as quickly as he could. He ran down the stairs and jumped the last three steps.

'I’m here,' he panted.

'So I see,' Abraxas said from the front hall, where he and his wife were waiting to say goodbye to their son. Lucius' trunk was stationed off to the side, having been brought down earlier by a house elf. His mother eyed Lucius up and down, approved of his appearance, and enveloped him in a tight hug.

'Have a good year, darling.' She released him.

His father approached as Lucius' mother released him from her hug. He handed Lucius a sealed envelope. 'This might interest you. Take care at school, Lucius.' There was a double meaning in the last phrase that Lucius didn’t miss. Take care of yourself, and take care of your secrets. Always double meanings.

Lucius didn’t open the envelope, and knew he wouldn’t until he was well away from home. If he had been meant to open it now, Abraxas wouldn’t have sealed it.

'Goodbye!' he said to them. And then he was off to King's Cross.

###

When Lucius got to the train station, he immediately spied Cassidy on the platform. By the time they had found a carriage together, Goyle, predictably, had joined them.

They settled in their compartment and began to discuss their summer escapades when Brice Carden asked to join them. He was shortly followed by Meta Iverson. They readily welcomed their fellow Slytherins, and the five settled in.

Of course, Meta's presence meant that Risa Yaxley and Emalia Marbury asked to join them too, and sat down before anyone could point out that there were now seven people plus luggage in the compartment.

And when Meredith showed up with Val Ballinger, no one felt bold enough to take the intimidating girl to task about it.

Instead, Cassidy invited them in with a comedic show of politeness, followed by a circus ringmaster's description of 'nine snakes in the space of a closet.'

By the time they had found something akin to comfortable positions, the noise had degenerated into a lilting song about the nine snakes. Cassidy led the song, of course, but at least six voices joined in the refrain.

Now we've got nine snakes all in a closet
Careful where you step now, easy does it
So you think that feat was easy, was it?
Then you can be the tenth snake here in the closet.

It was the middle of the last line when a Gryffindor prefect told them to be quiet. Naturally, several rude comments were required after he left, and all nine of them took part in making them, even if Goyle's contribution was in the form of grunting laughter.

Midway through the train ride, Lucius left the hot and stuffy compartment. He wandered the length of the train, peering in windows as he went.

He saw Nigel Sheridon sitting alone, and got a moment of vindicated pleasure before he moved on.

The only compartment he did stop at had four Ravenclaws in it, including Cato Lee, whom Lucius considered an ally of sorts.

'Malfoy,' Cato replied amicably to Lucius' greeting. 'How was your summer?'

Lucius shrugged. 'About as expected, nothing remarkable.' He smiled broadly. 'So, on the whole, good. And yours?'

Cato rolled his eyes.'My mother decided that this was the summer to visit our relations abroad.'

'That sounds fabulous.'

'Yeah; it would have been except that our relations abroad are abroad in Tuvalu.'

'Tuvalu?' Lucius asked, raising one eyebrow.

'Tuvalu.'

'Oh dear,' Lucius said sympathetically, 'where in Merlin's name is Tuvalu?'

'Do you know where Fiji is?'

'Vaguely.'

'It's north of that. And by 'north', I mean 'farther into the middle of nowhere.''

'Ouch. But at least you got tropical weath—oh.' Lucius realized his mistake.

'Yup. Southern hemisphere. Dead of winter.'

'Congratulations, Lee,' Lucius snickered. 'Sounds like a blast.'

'Thanks,' he retorted, and the two bantered for a few more moments before the other Ravenclaws began looking annoyed at the intrusion.

'I should head back to my compartment,' Lucius said. 'We got nine people into one of these things, and who knows what the other eight'll get up to while I’m gone.'

'I’m impressed,' Cato said with a laugh. 'Curious why you all felt it was necessary, but impressed too.'

###

There were no new songs when he got back to the carriage, nor did he find any place to sit. After allowing the others to have their fun suggesting he be put up with the luggage, he squeezed in between Goyle and Emalia. He thought it might be that she wanted someone between her and Goyle, but he wasn't sure. It was definitely odd, though, to be in such close…contact with his larger, slower shadow and a girl.

He wasn’t sure which was weirder—the girl or the Goyle. He knew the heat was starting to get to him when he realized that 'Goyle' and 'girl' sounded an awful lot alike if you said them right, and wasn’t that simply hysterical. Fortunately, he had the presence of mind to keep that insight to himself.

The nine of them laughed together the whole way to Hogwarts, pausing only to get into their school robes.

As they were leaving the train, piling into the horseless carriages, a few strains of 'nine snakes' could still be heard, making Lucius smile.

Trust Nigel Sheridon to ruin a perfect mood.

'Nine snakes in a closet, Malfoy?' he asked nastily, 'Have you come out of the closet now?'

'Hardly, Sheridon,' Lucius retorted, face reddening. 'I'm sorry if you're disappointed, but I just don’t swing that way.' He changed his voice to one of concern. 'If you’re having trouble finding a date, though, I'm sure there's a bloke or two in Gryffindor.' He smirked, and turned toward his friends. Merlin, that felt good. Not as good as it would feel to hex Sheridon into next week, but it was a close second.

###

The Sorting was quite routine, and he was content to tune out most all of it. The only first-year who caught his attention was a haughty girl with long blond braids whose name was Narcissa Black. Brice, who was sitting next to Lucius, confirmed that she was one of the Blacks. Well, he got on well enough with her sisters; it would be no shock if Narcissa was of the same mould.

Sure enough, the hat cried Slytherin, and she lightly dropped it to the floor before flouncing to their table.

By the end of the Sorting, their house had eleven new members.

The only other event of note was the change of faculty. Lucius was interested in who their new professor would be, but most of the older students rolled their eyes as if it was a commonplace change.

Their last Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Smythe, had been forced to retire after being trampled by a rogue dragon while she was on vacation in Czechoslovakia. The news was met by snickers and rolled eyes at the Slytherin table, and a sixth year’s comment that they were doomed to have a new Defence professor every year until Armageddon.

Replacing her was Professor O'Connell, who was moving into the position from the Arithmancy post. A new professor, Calvert, would be teaching Arithmancy. Lucius lost interest; he already knew O'Connell, and he wouldn’t have any contact with Arithmancy until at least the next year. He returned to his roast beef.

Throughout dinner, Lucius tried to remember what it had been like the year before, when he was one of the first years down at the end of the table. It seemed ages ago.

Lucius was quiet throughout dinner, and once the meal was over he turned back to his common room with his classmates. Just as they'd entered, the two fifth-year prefects ushered them quickly towards their respective dormitories. Sheridon tried to put up a fight, and was informed that if he didn't move to his dorm, he would be body-bound and carried there. After gaping like a trout for a moment, he sulkily complied.

Once the boys were in their dorm, which was next door to the one they'd stayed in the year before, Lucius sprawled on his new bed. Naturally, Sheridon went on about the prefects. 'We're not first-years! We shouldn't be forced here and there without knowing what's going on.'

Lucius interrupted his tirade.

'Sheridon, if you’d use your head instead of your tongue, you'd figure out they put us here so they could give the firsties their little talk about Slytherin.' He smirked. 'I didn't think that even you'd be dumb enough to miss that.'

Sheridon might have done something about that, be it with fist or wand, but Goyle took that opportunity to move slightly closer to Lucius. 'Go to bed, Sheridon,' Lucius commanded, 'unless you have anything else to waste our time.'

With a grumble and a snarky comment, Sheridon did as he'd been told. They turned out the light, and fell asleep.

###

Lucius sighed as he reviewed his courses for the day. Dismal. First up was History of Magic, and mornings were the worst time to have the class. First thing in the morning, Lucius already felt like crawling back into bed; there was no way he'd be able to stay awake with Binns' droning. Herbology was after that, and Lucius knew that Yarrow would be as awake and perky as ever. Then Potions in the afternoon. Potions. The schedule gave him a headache just thinking about it. He wished he could go back to bed.

Lucius was continuing with all of his courses—as if he had a choice. He'd heard older Slytherins talking about some of the electives they were taking, and he yearned to start those subjects as soon as possible. According to the school, he sneered, he didn't have the basic skills to begin a subject like Ancient Runes. But he could hardly see how another year of Charms was going to fix that. It was his firm belief that students should be allowed to take classes according to ability, rather than year.

But there really wasn’t much he could do about it.

Instead, he stumbled to the History of Magic classroom and dropped into a chair. He found his text among the others, and set it on his desk.Even after a full year, there was always a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, Binns would do something interesting. Or maybe he'd realise he was dead and leave. Or maybe-—but it never happened. Still, it never hurt anything to wish for it.

Sure enough, when Binns began the class it was discussing the history of centaur regulations. The only bright spot was that it was the first class of the year. Generally, Binns would spend the first twenty minutes repeating what he'd said during the last twenty minutes of the lecture he'd given the day before. Since they hadn't had a lecture the day before, it would be all new material. For what that’s worth, Lucius thought glumly.

As usual, Lucius tuned out the lecture and opened his book to look at the pictures, doodle in the margins, and maybe skim the text for anything resembling Binns' monotonous speech. They rarely had anything in common, to tell the truth. When he opened the book, it split to a page in the middle. There was a square of parchment slipped between the pages. Lucius looked at it curiously, and turned it over to read it.

Lucius Malfoy – ASPS
Tuesday Next 0:00
Slytherin High Table
Routine Business

Realizing what it was, he shoved it back under the book where it wouldn't be seen. Risa Yaxley, who was sitting next to him, raised her head from her notes at his sudden movement. Lucius quickly returned to ‘taking notes.’ He didn’t hear another word of the lecture.

###

In all the fuss of settling in, starting classes, and the ASPS invitation, Lucius had entirely forgotten about his father's note. He found it on his second night where he'd left it crumpled in the bottom of his trunk.

He opened the envelope, and was greeted by one line of text. It wasn’t in any language he was familiar with:

↑ ⊗ ♣ ℑ Φ § ö

Runes, maybe? But why would he be given a message in runes? Especially since he wasn’t allowed to take the course yet. Lucius sighed.

'Hey Goyle!' he called.

Goyle’s head turned, and Lucius raised the note. 'Does any of this make any sense to you?'

Goyle’s brow furrowed and his eyes squinted, but all he said was: 'There's an arrow, an ex in a circle, a clover sign, a—'

'Thanks, Goyle,' Lucius said with a sigh. Well, obviously.

Still, the answer would come to him in time. Father never sets impossible tasks, he reminded himself. Before readying himself for bed, he put the note in the place he put everything that he wanted kept secret: his Hide-Away. Notes from his father, he put under…the ↓ button.

He looked back at his father's note. The ↑ on the note and the ↓ on the box looked strikingly similar. Maybe...

Lucius opened the box with the ↑ button. Sure enough, a note fell out.

Mr.and Mrs.Abraxas Virgil Adair Malfoy
request the pleasure of
Mr.Lucius Malfoy's company
at a Christmas party
on Saturday, the twenty-fourth of December
at half after six o'clock
Malfoy Manor
The favour of a reply is requested

He read it again. The event was the family's traditional Christmas Eve party, but he'd never been allowed to go before. In past, he'd stayed upstairs, far away from the party.

But this year he was going.

Before he thought more about it, he moved on to the ⊗ button. Out fell another note:

Lucius, I strongly suggest that you peruse the following books. They should be of great help. Stay safe, as always.—Abraxas Malfoy

Lucius sighed. More books. Always more books. Sure enough, the next compartments held books: A Complete Guide to Etiquette, Conversation Made Easy, The Gentleman's Guide and How to Host. All in all, it looked like more information that Lucius had ever wanted on the proper way to behave. And he was supposed to 'peruse.'

Hoping for some salvation, he opened the last compartment. Another scrap of paper fell out, again with one line.

When you've read a bit, give my regards to Professor O'Connell.–AM

So now his father was even testing him before he came home. Lucius wasn't a fool, and if Abraxas wanted him to talk to O'Connell, it was a sure bet that she would report back to him.

Lucius put everything back into the box, and got ready for bed. No sense in worrying about it now. He’d read it later.

He rolled over, and fell asleep.

###

Lucius was decidedly nervous. And by 'nervous,' he really meant 'anxious and terrified out of my mind.' Same difference, really.

It was the first Tuesday of term, and he sat at the High Table—a place he’d been told was barred to him until 7th year. Apparently the estimate didn’t include ASPS membership.

After he'd re-read the ASPS note later that afternoon, it had finally sunk in that he was actually a part of the ASPS council. He was excited, nervous, 'nervous, ' agog, and bewildered at once. And confused. Did midnight of Tuesday mean 23:59 of Monday, or 0:01 of Wednesday?

So he'd stayed up working until half-past midnight on Monday, until he was satisfied that no one was coming. And so it was Tuesday night that the ASPS met, and Tuesday night that he sat at the High Table.

His chair at the table had been obvious when he'd looked; it was draped in the green of the first years' furniture. He might have been offended at the comparison with the year below him, but he was too grateful at the subtle indication of where he should be. He was flanked by the two sixth-year delegates, making him feel very small indeed.

The last person to join the table was Sandra Jugson, the seventh-year who was the current chair of the committee. To her right sat her deputy chair, seventh-year Neil Watson.Lucius later found that the chair was always the seventh-year who had joined the ASPS in the second year. It meant that Lucius could look forward to being chair some day. Wicked.

They arrived at midnight exactly, and the meeting began.

'Routine Business' began with a welcome to all of the members, particularly the new ones (Lucius and a third-year named Rodolphus Lestrange). The introductions were followed by a review of policies and procedures that took up the bulk of their time. By the end of the info session, Lucius was both bored out of his skull and surprised he hadn’t heard of the ASPS when Lance had asked him about it. The council was ingrained into almost every facet of Slytherin life.

From what Lucius could gather, the council's primary job was to act as disciplinarians and advocates for the house. The cases that came before them could be divided into three categories: External, Internal and Routine.

Routine cases were the least time consuming, though they were the most prevalent. These cases were generally initiated by the ASPS rather than a complainant, and addressed students who had somehow hurt the name or reputation of the house. This included Slytherins who broke the cardinal rule of Don’t Get Caught. If a first-year was called on a routine charge, he or she would often bring a Sponsor to act as an advocate. It rarely helped.

Internal cases involved a Slytherin who felt he had been wronged by another Slytherin. These cases included accusations of abuse of power, breaking of sacrosanct rules, and general harassment. Because it was generally held that Slytherins should be able to sort things out on their own, internal cases were typically settled against the complainant. The bias towards the defence also kept the number of cases to a minimum.

External cases were at the heart of the ASPS’ mission. These cases involved a Slytherin coming before the council to report an external event, and to ask for help in exacting retribution. External events typically revolved around anti-Slytherin members of other houses who took their prejudiced sentiments out on Slytherin students, primarily those in lower forms. In these situations, the ASPS would appoint a council member to act as fact finder. He or she would be in charge of finding some corroborating proof. Once they had proof, the council would order and carry out a counter-action to serve as a deterrent to future incidents of the same type. Retaliation was necessary to protect their own. And Slytherins protected their own.

'In conclusion,' Jugson spoke, 'welcome back to Hogwarts, Slytherin, and the ASPS. This meeting is adjourned.'

The delegates rose, and began to return to their respective dormitories. Lucius was halfway to the door out of the common room when someone grabbed his arm.

'Lucius, stay for a minute.' It was Neil Watson, who brought out a small booklet that he passed to Lucius. 'It's a guide to the way the council functions. A lot of it is what you heard tonight.' His lips thinned. 'There’s also a good deal of background that the rest of us don’t need to hear five years in a row. You should read it by the next meeting.'

'I will,' said Lucius. 'When will the next meeting be?'

Neil shrugged. 'We never know, really. We primarily meet on Tuesday nights, but we may go a week or two without meeting, or we may be forced to call a meeting at some other time. You’ll get a note when we decide to meet.' Lucius nodded. 'Is there anything else?'

'No, thank you.'

Neil went to bed, leaving the common room empty. Lucius opened the book, and began reading.

History

Historically, the head of Slytherin house has left the students to their own means. Some years ago, a group of concerned Slytherins sought to minimize the conflict and strife that ensued from the intrinsic power-play between students. They founded the Associated Student Protectors of Slytherin, and invited one student from each year as a representative. No one is sure of the exact date of the founding, though estimates have put it at 1925, nor do we know the original founders' names. From the day the ASPS was formed, a code of discretion has been a central element of the council.

Membership

In 1941, a decision was made to change the membership structure of the council. Two students from each year third and above and one from second year were included, and the structure has endured to this day.

At the conclusion of their tenure, the chair and deputy chair select the next year’s new members. No ratification of the names is required for the appointments to serve, merely an acceptance by the appointed persons.

Lucius skimmed the next bit, which was a list of famous decisions and actions taken by the council, and yawned. He decided that it was time to go to bed, and he promptly did so.

###

Lucius was studying his father’s latest reading 'suggestions.' Most of it was dull, vague, or so arbitrary that it was hard for him to remember any of it.

Of course, there was the occasional interesting fact.His current favourite was the section on the proper way to greet someone who had no right arm. It was possibly the least useful piece of information, but at least it was amusing. The only other paragraph he’d found that came close was the one with the header 'don’t tell a friend his or her spouse is having an affair.'

He had sent his response to his parents' invitation by owl earlier that day on thick parchment that he’d found nestled between two books. His parents had probably slipped it into his trunk just before he left.

Now he was back in the dormitory, and he’d just finished looking at the list of foreign phrases that one could drop into conversation (Comme il faut, C'est la vie, etc.), and was moving on to the reason of why one was not supposed to ask a guest 'What do you do?' in polite conversation. He was interrupted by a snort from Cassidy.

'What are you reading?' Cassidy laughed. 'That is the stiffest thing I’ve ever seen!'

Lucius put on his most offended face and retorted in a snobby tone. 'Some of us are being brought up with proper manners, Mr.Keefe. I'd hardly expect someone of your birth to understand.'

Cassidy threw a pillow at him, and Leo had to swat it away.

'Prat.'

'Git.'

'Bastard.'

'Jerk.'

'Idiot.'

'Dunce.'

'Fool.'

'Oh, lay off, you win,' Lucius said grumpily, having run fresh out of insults.

'Seriously, Lucius, why are you reading that?'

'Because I have an urgent desire to examine the intricacies of making introductions at parties.'

'Sure you do, Lucius.'

'Hey, it's not my fault. My parents are having a fancy party over Christmas, and I'm supposed to help out hosting.' He gestured to the stack of books. 'So I've got to learn what to do.'

'What's there to learn?' Cassidy rolled his eyes and flopped down on his bed. 'Be charming, don't insult anyone, and don't do anything stupid. How hard can it be? '

'You clearly don't understand the intricacies of conversation,' Lucius continued using his faux-snobby tone

'Oh, do enlighten me.'

Lucius looked down at the paragraph where he'd left off and began to read it aloud.

'Many people in a social setting, such as a dinner party, resent being asked by someone they’ve just been introduced to, 'What do you do?' They feel it's nosy; that the asker is trying to ascertain whether they have a spellbinding job and that, if they don't, the person won't be interested in talking to them. Before asking someone what he does—'

'Lucius!' Cassidy interrupted him. Lucius stopped reading and looked up.

'Cassidy, it’s not polite to interrupt. Would you like me to read the section on why it's rude? Or the one on what I'm supposed to do now that I have been interrupted?'

'You are so pretentious.'

Lucius threw the pillow back at Cassidy, who was too slow to prevent it hitting his face.

'That was not appropriate behavior for a gentleman!' Cassidy squawked.

'Neither is this!'

The ensuing pillow fight raged until they were too tired to continue.