Apology For the Devil

Chapter Eight--Don't Get Caught

" You can do anything in this world if you are prepared to take the consequences"-[ William Somerset Maugham]

Advice: Never give yourself a haircut after three margaritas.

[anon.]

##

He'd got caught.

Of all the things he could have been caught doing, it was a simple out-of-bounds issue. With all of the things he'd been up to, he was astounded that it had been something so small that did him in.

He'd left Goyle snoring in the dormitory, and went down to the common room to look for Cassidy, who hadn't shown up by curfew. Lucius checked the room and found Cassidy's books lying on one of the tables--but no Cassidy.

As he'd started to head for bed, trusting that his friend could take care of himself, a hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him behind the nearby armchair.

'What the--'

'Shh!'

It was Cassidy. Who, for some reason, was hiding behind an armchair in his own common room.

'Cassidy, what are we--'

'Shh!' he repeated.

They waited, and just as Lucius was about to scoff at his friend and head off back to bed, they heard footsteps.

They heard them alright, but couldn't see the body they were attached to, even as the person presumably reached the door to the common room.

The door swung open, closed, and the footsteps vanished down the hall.

'C'mon,' Cassidy whispered, and he and Lucius got up and went out the door to follow the noise.

They quietly tracked the footsteps down the corridor, up the stairs, and around a corner before the footsteps suddenly stopped. Lucius and Cassidy stopped too, but apparently not quick enough.

'What are you two doing here?' a female voice whispered out of nowhere. 'Go back!'

'What are you doing, Meredith?' Cassidy asked, plainly not going anywhere.

'It's none of your business where I'm--oh, for crying out loud, just go back to bed.'

'What do you think, Lucius? Should we go back to bed?'

Yes, you fool. 'I don't think we should,' Lucius drawled despite himself. 'After all, it's dangerous wandering the halls at night. It's our duty as men to escort the young lady where she is going.' Lucius swept into a mock bow. Cassidy snorted.

'You might as well be a Gryffindor with talk like that. Next thing we know you'll be--'

'Would you two be quiet?' Meredith hissed, 'You're going to get us all--oh. Listen.'

More footsteps.

'Go!' she whispered urgently before disappearing under her cloak. Lucius thought she might have had the decency to share it with one of them, but he didn't have time to argue.

'Mister Keefe and Mister Malfoy!'

They turned slowly, dreading what was to come.

'Out of bed at this hour; I would never have expected it. What do you have to say for yourselves?'

Nothing. Nothing that would help, at least. Except that Cassidy seemed to think he should try.

'I'm sorry Professor Calvert. We missed dinner, and someone told us the kitchens were down here. We were trying to...it won't happen again.' Cassidy smiled angelically, and Lucius tried to follow suit. For an instant, Lucius thought it might have worked.

'I see this student who told you about the kitchens neglected to tell you that wandering after hours is a serious misdemeanour?' She raised one eyebrow questioningly.

'He did,' Lucius supplied. 'We should have known, professor. But we won't do it again.'

'I highly doubt that, Mr. Malfoy. Detention, both of you. Friday night in the entrance hall.'

'But if you highly doubt that we won't do it again, what's the point?' Lucius asked logically. 'Maybe it's just a dumb rule.'

Professor Calvert's lips pursed and Lucius knew he'd just made a mistake.

'I enforce the rules, I do not make them. And even if I did, I would certainly not value the opinion of an out-of-bounds second year. And ten points from Slytherin for your cheek.'

'Professor,' Cassidy jumped in, 'he didn't mean it; he was really saying--'

'And ten from you as well. I do not have time for this. Back to bed with you.'

Back they went, disconsolately.

Once they were in the empty common room, Cassidy laid into him. 'What did you think you were doing?' he demanded. 'It wasn't like she was going to take back the detentions, and now we've lost points!'

Lucius gulped. It was true, and in retrospect he should have kept his mouth shut.

'It's true, though,' Lucius insisted. 'It is a stupid rule. Father says stupid rules are for stupid people.'

'And Slytherin says don't get caught. Cripes, Lucius, where's your sense of house loyalty?'

It's behind my loyalty to family, Lucius thought. 'I--you're right, I suppose. It wasn't terribly cunning of me.'

'Well...so long as you know it, I guess,' Cassidy said dully. He suddenly brightened. 'But at least we'll do our detentions together!'

Cassidy Silver-Lining Keefe. He could always make Lucius smile.

###

The next day was an ASPS meeting day, and Lucius dreaded it all through his classes. In Defence, he forgot to turn in his assignment, only just remembering as he left the classroom. In Herbology, he stumbled over the properties of a leaping toadstool, part of the project that they'd been working on the entire term. And in History of Magic, he found he was too anxious to doodle properly.

When he wasn't in class, he hid in his dormitory to avoid all ASPS members. When he surfaced at midnight, he slunk down to the High Table and took his seat.

To his surprise, his loss of points wasn't mentioned at all. They decided on consequences for three third-years who had lost the house thirty points-apiece--found coming from the Forbidden Forest after hours. They also ruled on three internal disputes they'd been putting off for investigation. All three were unfounded, or at least un-provable. Consequences had to be laid out for the plaintiffs of those suits.

As Lucius thought about it, they never ruled on cases where petty points were lost. His heart lightened considerably.

It sank again after the meeting, when Neil Watson approached him.

'Malfoy,' he said shortly, 'I heard what you did. It's not acceptable, especially for an ASPS member.' Lucius wilted, though he was trying to look nonchalant. 'I want you and your friend to knock on my door at seven pm tomorrow. We'll discuss this then. Understood?'

'Yes,' Lucius responded, chastised.

'Good. And for god's sake, don't look so helpless. You brought it on yourself.'

It was true. He had brought it on himself. And I'll take responsibility for that, he decided with a set jaw. He'd tell Cassidy the next morning, and they'd go meet their consequences together.

###

The next morning, he told Cassidy the glum news.

'So they're going to do something to us?' Cassidy asked with a frown.

'I don't know,' Lucius said. 'Neil just wanted us to be at his door tonight.'

'Well, no sense worrying about it. Let's head to breakfast, shall we?'

Lucius would never understand how Cassidy could shut things out of his mind so completely. Try as he might, Lucius couldn't help but dwell on what was to come. Even deciding that he would face it as boldly as he could didn't mean that he could forget about it.

On their way to breakfast, they ran into Renny and his gang.

Fantastic, Lucius thought with a sigh.

'I heard that Malfoy got detention last night,' Duke said loudly, intending for Lucius to hear.

'Serves him right,' muttered Singer.

'Whaddaya suppose they'll have him do?' Renny asked maliciously. 'I wouldn't think he'd be useful for much of anything.'

Lucius turned to them to retort, but thought better of it. The last thing he needed right now was a confrontation. The Slytherin part of him decided that he should walk away and not get in trouble. He could always get them back on his own terms. He turned his head and murmured to Cassidy. 'Let's go.'

They rounded a corner, leaving the Gryffindors behind them.

'Wow, what did you do to upset those guys?' Cassidy asked with a wry smile.

'Nothing!' Lucius ranted. 'I swear! They just hate our entire house. How fair is that?'

'Not very,' Cassidy agreed. 'But it is brave. Angering the most cunning and ambitious quarter of the school? I wouldn't do it.'

'That's because you have an ounce of intelligence,' Lucius responded haughtily.

'Gee, thanks Lucius! Feels good to know you think highly of me.'

'You know what I mean.'

They reached the Great Hall and sat down to eat breakfast. Cassidy began filling his plate. Lucius half-heartedly took a piece of toast.

'So what're you going to do about the Gryffindors?' Cassidy asked, interested.

'I've got to hope it burns out. The last thing I need to do is lose more points.'

'So don't get caught.'

Lucius raised one eyebrow sceptically. 'Would you take that chance?'

Cassidy paused to reflect. 'I think I would,' he said seriously, but amended his statement with a grin. 'Think of all the fun you could have.'

'No,' Lucius said firmly. 'There's no sense in antagonizing them.'

Cassidy shrugged. 'Your loss, then.'

Lucius sighed. Sometimes it was so hard to be a decent person.

As he was reflecting, Meredith came by the table and sat next to him. She helped herself to some eggs and was poised to take her first bite when she stopped and looked at them. 'You boys are incredibly stupid; you know that, right?' she said, and went back to eating her eggs.

Lucius and Cassidy looked at one another.

'We don't all have invisibility cloaks to sneak out under,' Lucius retorted. 'Some of us just have to take our chances.'

'Well, it was stupid,' she said plainly. 'Now you've gone and lost points.'

'Hey, we were just following you,' Cassidy said defensively. 'What were you up to, pray tell?'

Meredith looked at Cassidy as though he were the last person she'd consider telling her plans to. Instead she turned to Lucius. 'It was ASPS business,' she said simply. Her tone did not invite further inquiry.

He would later find out that she'd conjured up some damning photos of a Ravenclaw sixth year and posted them around the entrance to the Ravenclaw Common Room. With Meredith, you could never be sure if the evidence was real, but Lucius thought it might be in this case. Though how she'd gotten hold of naked baby pictures was beyond him. Meredith was a bit scary, sometimes.

###

That night, Lucius and Cassidy went to the seventh year dorm with much trepidation.

'Go ahead,' Lucius said to his compatriot as they stood outside the door. 'Knock.'

'I'm not going to knock,' Cassidy responded stubbornly. 'This is your fault, and he's your friend. You knock.'

'He's not my friend,' Lucius corrected, 'He's a...a colleague. Go on, you do it.'

'Lucius--'

'Cassidy!'

'Fine! Chicken.'

'Better a live chicken than a dead duck,' Lucius quipped. Cassidy snorted, and knocked twice.

The door opened to reveal a heavyset redhead who gave an exasperated look before calling to Neil.

'Neil, there's another pair.'

Neil stepped to the doorway and the redhead looked at him scathingly before going back inside.

'Honestly, Neil. Does everyone who loses points have to come knocking on our door?'

'Leave it, Mike,' Neil said forcefully, and Mike beat a hasty retreat.

'I won't draw this out,' Neil said shortly. 'You both know why you're here. Take these,' Neil said, and handed each of them a book. 'They're old texts. Copy ten pages of your book, one for each point. I expect them by Friday.' He shut the door.

Lucius and Cassidy exchanged baffled looks. ASPS set homework? Lucius glanced down at his text and groaned. It was the fifth-year Potions text.

'What've you got?' Cassidy asked. When Lucius told him, Cassidy nearly choked from trying not to laugh.

'Oh, and yours is so much better?' Lucius asked pointedly. Cassidy sobered.

'Third-year charms.'

'That's so unfair!' Lucius said. 'At least you'll understand what you're writing.'

Cassidy shrugged helplessly. 'What can I say, mate? Some of us have all the luck.'

###

It was Thursday night when Lucius finally sat down to do the ASPS assignment. 'Don't get caught,' indeed.

His copying assignment--which had been bookmarked--was three pages of recipes and seven pages of theory.

In this section we discuss a model used to account for the observed characteristics of reaction rates. This model, called Vitie's Varied model, is built around the central idea that potions components must interact to effectively change. We have already seen how this assumption explains the concentration dependence of interaction. Now we need to consider whether this model can account for the observed temperature dependence of rates of change.

Lucius took out his parchment and quill and began to write. A part of him wanted to blow off the assignment completely. But he had a feeling that doing that wouldn't help matters at all.

So he took out his anger in small ways. He cramped his handwriting so tiny that it was practically illegible. His personal goal was to fit the assignment in under a foot of parchment.

When he tired of that about four pages in, he began to write his words in wavy lines, producing an ocean-like effect. He whimsically added a fish, and then an octopus.

By the time he'd copied his ten pages, he'd degenerated into doodling throughout and forcing his words to fit around the clouds, spirals, and eventually a large pirate ship doing battle with a frigate. The cannonball dotted an 'i'.

Cassidy had finished his a few minutes earlier and came over to Lucius.

'What the devil is--Lucius, is that your...'

'Yes,' Lucius said petulantly.

'But why did you...is that a Ferris wheel?'

'A what? No, it's a shuriken. Any fool could tell--'

'Why did you do that to your copying?'

'I got bored,' Lucius said simply.

They trudged up the stairs to the seventh-year dorm, and Cassidy knocked on the door. It opened, and Neil stood in the doorway.

'Yes? Oh. You. Did you finish?'

They nodded and handed over their pages.

Neil perused the writing, but when he got to Lucius' he raised an eyebrow. Lucius couldn't tell if it was raised in amusement or in disdain. He hoped it was the former.

'Malfoy, is this yours?'

'...Yes.'

'How...imaginative. You may go.' He closed the door.

Lucius and Cassidy ran back to their dorm to snicker at the expression on Neil's face. Priceless.

###

As it turned out, they did not serve their detentions together. They met the groundskeeper, Ogg 'the Ogre,' in the Entrance Hall. They waited there for a bit, Ogg looking at them in a most unnerving fashion. Finally, Lucius saw what they'd been waiting for. The caretaker, Pryce, was climbing up the stairs.

'You'll be doing your detention with Mr. Pryce, Mister Malfoy,' the Ogre said nastily. Lucius wasn't about to argue with him. After making his pronouncement, the Ogre led a reluctant Cassidy out the front doors. Lucius was left alone with Pryce.

Pryce was not a young man. On the contrary, he was swiftly approaching ancient and decrepit. As the caretaker led Lucius up the stairs, down corridors and around corners, the old man muttered somewhat nonsensically to himself. It took a moment for Lucius to realize it when Pryce started speaking to him.

'We have a little problem in one of these rooms up here,' he said creakily as they came to a hallway with a number of doors. Lucius had never been down this way, and he made a mental note to come explore it later.

'Now, which one was it...' Pryce muttered. Lucius was swiftly growing impatient. I'll serve my detention, he thought with pursed lips, but don't keep me awake all night to figure out what it is!

Meanwhile, Pryce had been opening doors. Lucius hadn't been paying attention until a colony of bats flew out of the fifth door, causing him to shriek and protect his head. He glanced into the room and saw shackles on the wall. He paled and his breath quickened. Surely they wouldn't...

Pryce swore under his breath before closing the door. 'Wrong room again,' he muttered. The next door revealed what appeared to be a fully stocked armoury. Wicked! Lucius thought. But that door was closed too. Finally, Pryce opened a door that led to a dark room. Lucius couldn't see the interior, but there was an ominous scratching sound. Lucius decided rapidly that he did not want to go in there.

'Here we are,' Pryce said.

'Are you sure?' Lucius asked with a hint of desperation--and a whole lot of reluctance.

'Oh, yes,' Pryce said solemnly. This is the one." With a not-so-gentle push, Lucius was shoved into the dark room. He looked about frantically for some source of light. 'Lumos,' Pryce said as he stepped inside, and Lucius immediately felt like a fool. I could have done that, he chided himself. He sighed and took in his surroundings.

The room had, at one point, been a lounge of some sort. There were a few sagging sofas, two long tables with beat up chairs lined up along them, and a dusty fireplace that had likely seen decades of disuse. The windows were inexpertly boarded, using far more wood than was necessary to block out the light. The rough stone walls had moss growing in places, and the floor was coated with a layer of dust and grime.

In short, it was a thoroughly unpleasant place. Lucius just barely hid his look of disgust.

'Doxies,' Pryce said without preface. 'We seem to have an infestation.'

'What?' Lucius asked, startled.

'Behind the boards, under the furniture, up the chimney... Professor Meriwether wants some for his third-years next week. And you're going to catch them for him. Here's a bucket for the ones you get.' He gestured to an old wooden bucket sitting by the door. 'And you might be needing this as well,' he added, pointing to a container that was labelled Doxycide. 'Have fun.' Pryce smiled wickedly before leaving Lucius with a slam of the door.

Lucius' lips thinned. He didn't really know what a doxy was, or at least had never seen one before--they weren't taught until third year, anyway. And he certainly didn't know how to catch one. Think, Lucius, he commanded himself calmly.

He started by lighting the torches that lined the room. It probably wouldn't help anything to be working in total darkness. Torches lit, he gave a sigh and started to his task. Really, he sniffed, how dare they leave me here alone. What if something goes wrong? He supposed that was what the Doxycide was for. Pulling his wand from his pocket, he cautiously approached the chimney. He sidled up to it, then swiftly moved in and sent a stunner up the flue. He was rewarded when a stunned doxy fell down and smacked into the fireplace.

Less rewarding was the swarm of angry doxies that followed. They dive-bombed Lucius, who put his hands up to cover his head. With another shriek, he staggered backwards to get out of the way.

He backed into another person, which made him scream again, as he was supposed to be in the room alone. He tripped over his feet in his haste to turn around, and fell hard on the ground. Whirling around as best he could from the ground, he pointed his wand directly at the other person.

'Who are you?' he demanded.

'Relax, Lucius,' the other said, and stepped into a better light. It was the Ravenclaw, Lee.

'Lee.' He breathed out a sigh of relief. 'What are you doing here?'

'Detention, same as you.' He shrugged. 'I was late to the entrance hall because I was waylaid by Peeves.' He wrinkled his nose. 'I hate that.'

Lucius nodded his agreement. 'Well, I'm glad you're here. I'm sure we can do this, between the two of us.'

'Sure,' Lee said with a smile.

The two set to work. Lee actually did know something about doxies, and while Lucius would never admit to him how clueless he'd been, the information was gratefully received. They worked around the room, and only needed the Doxycide twice. It had been quite a shock when Lucius had been bitten, but they'd quickly fixed the problem. The best part of having Lee there though, was not his knowledge of doxies, but his company.

'So,' Lucius asked when they were about halfway done and taking a break, 'why are you here, if you don't mind me asking.'

'Hexed a girl,' Lee responded with a sigh.

'Isn't that rather...un-Ravenclaw of you?'

'Not really. She stole my charms text. I wanted it back.' He shrugged. 'Not sure if it was worth all this.'

'Did you get the book back?' Lucius asked.

'Absolutely,' Lee responded with a smile.

'Then I don't see a problem with it.'

'You wouldn't, Slytherin,' he joked.

'Says the Ravenclaw who goes around hexing people randomly,' Lucius retorted.

'It was not random!' Lee cried, and Lucius laughed. Lee joined in, and the two continued putting doxies in the bucket. They finished filling the bucket, said their goodnights and headed towards their respective common rooms.

By the time he reached the common room, Lucius wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed. But when he walked into the common room, he found a pale Cassidy sitting by a fire.

'You okay?' he asked his friend. Cassidy shook his head.

'Can't sleep...giant spider...' He shuddered.

'A giant spider?' Lucius asked incredulously. 'What was your detention? Feeding it?' he asked sarcastically.

Cassidy shook his head again, trying to clear it. With frightened eyes, he explained.

'I was supposed to be weeding the vegetable garden. I was working, and then there was this bloody huge spider! It came out of the forest, and...and...'

'I didn't know you were afraid of spiders,' Lucius said indulgently, and sat down next to Cassidy.

'I'm not!' Cassidy defended. 'I'm afraid of giant, hairy, eight-legged death monsters! It could have eaten me, Lucius!'

'Cassidy,' Lucius said patiently, 'spiders can't eat people. Next time smash it with your shovel or something.'

'This would not have been smashed, Lucius. It was bigger than...' he shuddered as he thought about it. 'It was bigger than this table.'

Cassidy, Lucius thought fondly; always the exaggerator.

'Okay, Cassidy. Whatever you say. Let's go up to bed.'

Cassidy shook his head furiously. 'You don't believe me!' he accused.

Well, no. Giant spiders?

'I can't go to sleep now!' Cassidy said desperately. 'I'll have nightmares!'

'Well, what do you want me to do about it?' asked Lucius, thoroughly exasperated.

'I dunno,' Cassidy said meekly. 'Would you...sit up with me? Just for a bit,' he added hurriedly as he saw Lucius' downcast look.

'Sure,' Lucius said with a sigh. 'Of course I'll sit up with you.'

Cassidy smiled in response. 'Thanks.'

After all, what were friends for?

###

Later in the term, it was Lucius who was sitting up late at night.

It was the night before the start of exams, and Lucius' head lay on the common room table, potions book just beside it. He slammed his forehead into the table a couple of times to distract himself from his racing thoughts.

I'm going to fail potions.

Father's going to kill me.

Well, maybe not kill... Lucius had a sudden, vivid memory of the Malfoy family dungeons. Stop that, he chastened himself. Father would never...he'd never hurt me. For all that he knew it was true, but he couldn't quite rid the feeling that Bad Things were going to happen.

He had a feeling that, this time, it would be worse than revising old essays.

Lucius sighed and returned to the chapter he'd been trying to read for the last half hour. Cassidy was in the corner playing exploding snap with some first-years. It wasn't fair. Lucius turned back to his notes.

Chapter Seven: Swelling Solutions

Causes both external and internal changes.

Effects like the Engorgement Charm.

Discovered 1383, Alanus Auctus.

Deflating Draught to reverse effects.

Turns green when puffer-fish eyes added.

There was no way. There was too much information, too many potions, not enough time...

Father's going to kill me.

'How's it going, Lucius?' Cassidy had walked over to the table where Lucius was contemplating his chances of falling ill before the exam.

Miserably, Lucius looked up at his too-cheery friend. 'Dismally, thank you.'

Cassidy withdrew slightly. 'Do you want any help?' he asked gently.

No. Yes. Maybe. Lucius sighed. 'That would be great.'

Cassidy sat down next to him and looked at his notes. 'Cripes, Lucius! Do you just go through and memorize every detail for every potion?'

'Yes,' Lucius responded as if it was obvious. 'Do you have a better idea?'

'No wonder you have such a hard time. Here, let me see that.' Lucius handed Cassidy his blank roll of parchment.

When Cassidy handed it back a few minutes later, he had listed all of the potions that would be on the exam. But they weren't in chronological order of when Slughorn had taught them.

'Here,' Cassidy showed him. 'I sorted them by basic ingredients. Like these three here,' he pointed at one of his columns. 'These ones are all variations on the basic solution that we made at the start of the year, y'see? You just add or subtract an ingredient or two to make them different.' Cassidy looked very pleased with himself. 'Now all you have to do is remember which category they go in, and what the ingredient changes are. Much easier. And some of them are really obvious, like this one. You know that it ends up orange, so you assume that you have to add leech juice.'

'So leech juice always makes a potion orange?' Lucius asked. Cassidy gave Lucius an astonished look.

'Of course,' he said, as if it were obvious--which it certainly wasn't. 'Haven't you noticed that it's in every orange potion we make?'

'Not really.'

'You really have just been memorizing, haven't you? Here, let me walk you through some of these.'

For all that Lucius wanted to yell at Cassidy that he didn't need help, he recognized that...well, he did need help. And even though it felt like a weakness, he knew that Cassidy wouldn't exploit it.

When they were through, Lucius had a much better handle on why things worked, and only had a bit of memorization to do.

'Thanks so much, Cassidy,' he said gratefully. 'Is there anything I can do for you?' he asked automatically.

Cassidy snorted. 'You're such a Slytherin. No, I don't need anything in exchange for helping a friend pass his exams.'

'But surely--'

'Hey, you'd have done the same for me. Let's leave it.'

Lucius left it.

And when he took his potions exam the next day, he felt that he might actually have done decently.

###

It was the train ride home when he snapped.

The whole year, he had ignored the taunts of the Gryffindors. He had tried avoiding them. He'd even tried to set off his accidental magic around them; after all, he could hardly be blamed for that. They'd taken to following him round and make snide comments, taking advantage of the fact that Lucius wouldn't hit them back.

And now, with the three boys sniggering in the doorway to the compartment he was sharing with Goyle and Cassidy, and the end of the term meaning he couldn't lose points, it was time to do something about it.

He surreptitiously drew his wand from the pocket where he'd been keeping it, all the while chatting with Cassidy and pointedly ignoring the Gryffindor trio, as he always did. He laughed at one of Cassidy's jokes while he got a good grip on the wand. And then, without warning, he struck.

'Rictumsempra, Facipilosus, Terminos.'

'What the--'

'Bloody--'

'Mmmrph!'

By the time they'd drawn their wands, Cassidy had levitated his trunk to act as a shield. A minor battle ensued, with even Goyle proving surprisingly effective. Cassidy held up their makeshift shield; Lucius acted as the primary attack force. It was evenly matched until Singer, the least damaged of the three Gryffindor boys, got the idea to levitate Lucius' trunk--and to levitate it right into Lucius' head.

The blow knocked him over, and onto the compartment floor. Cassidy immediately let his trunk drop from the air, and went to tend to Lucius, who was still wildly firing curses. He didn't care that almost none of them were hitting their marks. For his part, Goyle looked menacing enough that the Gryffindors left, though their leaving was mostly due to their not wanting to be held responsible for nearly rendering a fellow student unconscious.

When the other boys had gone, Lucius took stock of the damage. His trunk was scratched somewhat, but not badly enough that a quick charm wouldn't fix it. His face was another matter. Lucius' eye was bruised where the trunk had hit him, and he was bleeding from a split lip. With fifteen minutes left until their arrival at King's Cross, Lucius set about repairing some of the damage.

'Episkey,' he said, pointing his wand at his split lip. He had learned that spell after seeing Professor O'Connell perform it on his wounded arm the year before. It hadn't been nearly as difficult a charm as he'd expected, though he supposed that was partly due to his natural ability at charms.

He felt his lip healing and the cut stopped bleeding. Unfortunately, it was still puffy. He didn't want to do anything to his eye, either--that could have disastrous effects if he botched the spell, and the last thing he wanted was a trip to St. Mungos.

'You okay?' asked Cassidy. Lucius nodded.

'More or less,' he replied. 'Wish it was something I could heal before getting home, though.'

'Tough luck, mate,' Cassidy said sympathetically. Lucius was jealous at how unharmed Cassidy was. They looked over at Goyle, who was wobbling from the Jelly-Legs Jinx. Lucius performed the counter-curse and Goyle grunted his thanks.

Soon enough, the train stopped and the boys alighted, carrying their trunks behind them. Lucius had taken the time to feather-light his trunk while on the train, and he lifted it effortlessly onto the platform. It was time to go home.

###

When he arrived home, his mother was waiting with open arms. She gave him a tight hug, which he did his best to wriggle out of. Then she took a good look at him to see how he'd been faring away from home.

'Lucius!' she cried, a shocked expression on her face. 'What on earth happened? Are you alright? Is there anything else that hurts?' She came over to him and ran her finger over his puffy lip. Without waiting for an explanation, she performed a series of healing charms that took away all remnants of his fight with the Gryffindors.

'Thank you, Mother,' he said, hoping she wouldn't press further.

'How did this happen?' she asked with worry.

'It was nothing,' Lucius hedged. 'My trunk hit me when--' he stopped himself mid-lie. He didn't think Abraxas would take it well if Lucius lied to his mother. 'It hit me,' he finished without going into further detail.

'Lucius,' his mother began shrewdly, 'was anyone else involved in this accident?'

'Yes,' he said grudgingly. 'But it wasn't my fault! They started it, and I was only fighting back, and then one of them knocked the trunk into me, but it--' he stopped himself again. Control, Lucius, he chastened himself. A little bit of bloody self-control!

His mother said nothing for a moment. When she did speak, it was in a firm tone. 'Why don't you go unpack, love,' she ordered. 'I'll let you know when your father gets home.'

Lucius' heart sank. Father. Abraxas would not be pleased. 'Yes, Mother,' he said dutifully, and reluctantly turned towards the stairs.

###

Lucius was reading on his bed when the house-elf came to get him.

'Master Lucius, your father is wanting to see you,' it said to him and disappeared without waiting for a response.

Lucius got up from his bed and walked up the stairs to his father's study with trepidation. He wasn't sure, but it seemed likely that he'd be getting a lecture, probably something to the effect of 'Malfoys do not brawl.' He reached the study and knocked on the door.

'Come in,' Abraxas said. Lucius suddenly realized how much he had missed his father's strong presence while he'd been at school. He shook his head to clear it and entered the study.

'Lucius,' Abraxas said by way of greeting. 'I understand there was an altercation.'

'Yes, Father,' Lucius said softly. There was no point in denying it.

'Would you care to explain yourself?' he asked. Lucius took a deep breath.

'I was...we were on the train, and then this group of Gryffindors came into our car and started saying things, and they made me so mad. And I should have had better control, and I know that, but...' Lucius trailed off.

'But?' Abraxas prompted.

'But they'd been bothering me all term, and I just couldn't sit there and let them. I thought...it didn't seem right. I didn't think that Malfoys let people push them around.'

'But scuffling about on a train is worthy?' Abraxas asked with a hard stare.

'No, Father,' Lucius said with a slight cringe.

'I'm simply trying to understand, Lucius. What would drive you to do something so patently stupid?'

'I'm sorry, Father,' he said meekly. It was the only thing Lucius could think of to say.

'You are not a stupid boy. What happened?'

'I didn't mean to,' he mumbled.

'That is not an explanation.' His voice was harsh, and Lucius gulped.

'It was...it was a mistake, Father. I don't know why I did it.'

'This was no mistake, Lucius. This was a choice. A mistake is when you drop something. What you did is not a mistake.'

'But it was!' Lucius couldn't help from saying. 'I didn't mean for it to turn into a fight, it just happened.'

'Things like this do not jut happen, Lucius!' Abraxas said in a raised voice. 'You made a decision, on some level, and you acted on it. What remains is to teach you to not make impulsive, destructive decisions on any level.' He fixed Lucius with a cold stare. 'How should we do this, Lucius? What can we do to teach you?'

'I don't know, Father,' he said truthfully.

'You don't know?'

'No, Father. I don't know how I can teach myself to...to do what you said.'

'Do I have to teach you? Is that what you need?'

'I...maybe. I don't know.'

'Give me your wand.'

Lucius reluctantly handed it to him. Abraxas pocketed it.

'This is mine now,' he said to his miserable son. 'This is mine for the rest of the holiday. It is a tool to be used responsibly or not at all. Do you understand?'

'Yes, Father,' he whispered.

'Will this make you learn?'

'I don't kn--I hope so, Father. It's not that I don't want to learn.'

'Alright, then. We will continue to meet; we can still have lessons without practical magic.'

Theory. Lucius knew that meant theory. If this didn't help him to learn what his father wanted, then he didn't want to endure the punishment that would.

'And Lucius?' his father continued. Lucius raised his head to meet Abraxas' eyes. 'Welcome home.'

Dismissed, he slunk out of the study and went to look for something useful to do.