Bonds of Fate

Chapter Three: Dark Seed of Evil

"I have a present for you, my little one." and he looked past Draco.

Lucius followed his father's gaze to the door on the left. It was ajar but he could see no more than a high bookshelf through the gap, even as Draco carefully pushed the door further open to fit through. Watching his son disappear he felt a sudden urge to protect him. As he took a few steps towards it, the door shut in his face.

Delicate fingers reached for the doorknob-

"Lucius..." a soft demand from behind - and turned it. Nothing happened. He shot his father a questioning glance.

"I told Draco to go in, you come here." He gestured for his son to sit down on the bed. The old Malfoy sat up and turned his head looking out of the window to avoid his son's eyes.

"I didn't do it."

"What?" Lucius looked more than puzzled.

"The door. I didn't shut it." Before his son could half formulate a reply he went on. "Neither did Draco."

Lucius watched him intently. "I don't quite understand. Who... wait, has it something to do with Voldemort?"

All at once his father looked straight into his eyes. Reluctance met concerned questiones, swirling beneath the surface. "It has everything to do with Voldemort." came the answer more loudly than intended. Lucius wasn't able to read any of the emotions in the old man' eyes as they returned to the window. He seemed determined not to go on.

"Father?" He didn't move. "Ambrosius, what is it? What's behind this door? Tell me!" Lucius placed his hands on his father's shoulders. "You have to tell me, Ambrosius. Father, please."

He was roughly shoved back. "Calm down, Lucius. I don't have to tell you anything."

Lucius was six years old again, being told off by his father. "Excuse me."

"But I will nevertheless."

Ambrosius seemed to be completely ignoring him, letting silence fall heavily between them. Finally Lucius couldn't bear it any longer. His eyebrows wandered upwards. "Well?"

"When Narcissa was pregnant and Lord Voldemort still powerful, he did a bit of crystal gazing."

"What did he see?" That earned Lucius a glare.

"Well, he didn't exactly tell me, but it involved a certain raven-haired boy."

"Harry Potter! I should have known."

"Will you stop interrupting?

"One day that year he came to visit me. He said he needed one of my roses, turned on his heel and immediately left for the garden to find a fitting one. I went after him and asked what he wanted to do with it. He stopped in front of a fiecely red rose and eyed it with great interest, cupping one flower in his hand. His lips curled into a smile and there was a strange light in his eyes when he finally answered in a low voice."

"'Challenge fate.'" He imitated with the faint hiss so reminicent to Voldemort in his voice. His eyes unfocused as if he was recalling that very moment, before he shook his head and went on.

"He chose that red rose and cut off a small part with a knife that had been hidden in his robes. Then we went to the dungeons. He asked me to pot the rose and remove all its buds, while he prepared a powder for the enchantment."

Lucius was on the verge of asking why Ambrosius told him all that and what enchantment they had performed, but decided his father wouldn't tell him anyway.

"When all was ready Voldemort took the powder into the palm of his hand and blew it over the plant. It swirled in a silvery cloud around the rose before settling and then the dust literally seeped into the leaves. For an instant nothing happened and I thought it hadn't worked, just as a new bud developed and opened unnaturally fast. The flower was the most beautiful thing I ever saw - although it had almost completely lost the red color."

"It was black." This time Lucius couldn't make out any emotion in his father's eyes as they turned on him again.

"That very moment Draco opened his eyes to look upon the world for the first time."

Comprehension dawned on the young man and he sprang to his feet. "Don't tell me my son's in there alone with that dark creature!"

"Lucius, I..."

But Lucius was already at the door, ignoring him. He drew his wand and waved it in the direction of the lock, shouting "Alohomora!" There was a click and the door gave way as he pushed it.

The relief that he had made it so easily into the room left him the moment his eyes connected with his brain and he actually saw what was happening. It ripped a short yell from his lips, something his usual control would never have let out.

There was his son kneeling on the windowsill with his arm outstretched as if to reach something far out of the window and about to fall. If Draco had heard his yell he didn't react; thankfully, Lucius thought, because then he might have lost his balance indeed.

~~

Draco didn't heed the sound, it was so surreal, so faraway to his ears. All that mattered was the shape on the other side of the abyss, just a fracture of an inch away; so near he could almost feel it on his fingertips, and that it wanted him to follow.

Suddenly he felt himself dragged away with a force he couldn't resist. How was he supposed to fight something he couldn't even see? There was no one near him, he knew it although he never took his eyes from those of the woman, but he definitely felt the pressure of a strong hand on either side of his ribcage steadying him, nevertheless lifting him away. Everything around him faded into nothingness and he couldn't stop it. His mind screamed and kicked about, but his body wouldn't do anything, simply letting everything be, strangely protected in those familiar arms of the sudden intruder.

When the darkness lifted again he could see his father kneeling in front of him. But instead of him Draco's eyes focused the pretty flower that stood behind. Rays of sunlight danced about her. Just then a cloud darkened the sky outside and shadows fell about the rose. This finally released him fully and he fainted into sweet oblivion.

~~

Lucius had rushed to the window and had grabbed the boy, lifting him off the sill. He placed Draco right in front of him, but no matter what he said to him, his son would just stare through him, standing there, stockstill. Suddenly the boy's knees trembled and he collapsed into his father's arms.

Now Lucius saw that Ambrosius had stepped into the door frame. He took his son protectively into his embrace and shot an icy glare at his father.

"I'm not going to keep this ... this 'gift'."

"Oh, it wasn't given to you."

"Neither does Draco. Look at him!

"What is it good for anyway, to expose him to a creature of such power?"

There was a longer pause as the old Malfoy considered just how much he could tell his son.

"It shall guard him- "

"Well, it didn't do it's job very properly, don't you think? Draco nearly got himself killed! It's obvious he was in a trance caused by this creature!" He pointed at the rose behind him. "That's not what you'd call a good guard."

"She has a certain life on her own, after all..."

"So, it took a female form. Well, I don't want that creature near my little son with that soul of her's, black as those petals - she longs to harm him. You should have chosen a flower of a less passionate color as a medium, don't you think? It seems that Voldemort has underestimated the Dark Arts!" he said all that very fast.

"And you can lecture him there! Don't you dare insult the Lord, son! I don't think you'd like to feel his wrath!" roared Ambrosius.

Lucius flinched noticeably and pressed Draco even more closely to his chest. When he finally cast his eyes down and silence filled the room, his father knew he was defeated. Ambrosius' features softened, but he didn't smile. He looked down at the pale boy, unconscious in the young man's arms, and knew why he himself had tried to resist as well.

It was no good, he couldn't take his words back, they couldn't just get rid of this flower and go on living, they couldn't hide from the Dark Lord. Who was weak but not broken. One day, he would return to see whether Ambrosius had done his homework. And this task had been of particular interest to him. For so long prepared, he wouldn't fail now.

It had been so easy to turn over his own son, who had been more than eager to join their ranks. Now he was officially denying his business as a Death Eater. His own head was dearer to him than his loyality. So it came to pass that Voldemort trusted Ambrosius with the rose, Lucius wouldn't have exposed Draco, his firstborn, his only child, regardless of his words. He had just proved it.

Now Ambrosius was exposing another young life. But it was all for Draco's best, he kept reminding himself, Draco would be loyal, Draco would remain a Malfoy. Still, wouldn't it suffice...

"It could be arranged to keep it in the dungeons. As long as it stays in one building with my little boy, it'll be alright." He turned and left Lucius cowering in the middle of the vast library.

Draco had woken later on, draped between mountains of cushions, to find that his grandfather was no more. Lucius explained to his son that they had been summoned so he could see them one more time before he died. An elegant hand ran through his silken hair. His mother was there and this made him, more than anything else, feel safe and protected.

When had she arrived? What had happened anyway? His parents' words flowed past him. He felt tired and exhausted. Taking a cushion into his arms he leaned against his mother. He didn't realize he was crying when he drifted of to sleep. A most beautiful rose in his dreams.